Kitchen Dispatch: A Quest to Create the Perfect Pawpaw Ice Cream

Join Gastro Obscura's Sam O'Brien each week for Kitchen Dispatch as she tests new recipes and explores wondrous foods from her home kitchen. Subscribe to get it in the Gastro newsletter. As the weather got colder last week, I decided it was the perfect time to make pawpaw ice cream. It’s not that I needed a frozen treat; with Thanksgiving in the rearview, I wanted to bid a proper goodbye to fall.

And, for me, there’s no better symbol of the ephemeral beauty of the season than the pawpaw. I first wrote about this fruit, which grows wild across the Eastern United States, last year. I tested several recipes I thought would work well with the fruit’s flavor—a mix of banana, mango, and durian. Ice cream was the clear winner, a fine showcase for the pawpaw’s natural creaminess and tropical flavors.

I chose a simple ice cream recipe, a mixture of pawpaw puree, sugar, cream, and milk. It was delicious, but I couldn’t help thinking I could make a version that further emphasized the fruit’s custard-like texture. I mulled this over for the past year, and when pawpaw season rolled around again in September, I noticed my local ice cream shop, Franklin Fountain, was serving a pawpaw flavor with a custard base.

After one taste, I knew this ultra-creamy approach was the way to go. I just needed pawpaws. KITCHEN DISPATCH: THE BREAD THAT ALMOST BROKE ME Since pawpaws are notoriously difficult to cultivate, foraging is the best way to obtain a large amount.

But by the time I got out to my nearest pawpaw grove, the area had been picked clean. I called nearby farmers and produce markets, but no luck. I’d ordered frozen pulp just in case, but I really wanted to track down fresh fruit. Then something serendipitous happened.

In October, Atlas Obscura asked me to help shoot a video in the Shawangunk Mountains. I agreed, partially because the Gunks are beautiful. But if I’m being honest, it was because I heard that pawpaws were still growing plentifully in upstate New York. Driving up, I stopped at a Catskills nursery on a whim and struck gold: Sitting beside the register was a giant basketful of little green orbs.

I bought nearly the whole lot, then filled my hotel room’s mini fridge. They’d keep in there for a few days, so I could prep them after the trip. With pawpaws in hand, I pureed and froze the pulp, then started researching my recipe. Although I loved Franklin Fountain’s variety, I wanted more pawpaw flavor.

So I tweaked a traditional vanilla custard ice cream recipe to add 1.5 cups of pawpaw puree and ribbons of pawpaw-flavored caramel. The result was almost perfect: A tropical, delicately floral flavor was front and center, with notes of vanilla lurking behind it. And the custard base made the texture delightfully smooth and creamy. I say it was almost perfect because even though the caramel provided some buttery sweetness, most of the pawpaw flavor cooked off.

I thought I’d waited long enough after I took the caramel off the heat and added the cream, but next time, I’ll let the mixture cool more before adding the fruit puree. Overall, I’m pleased with my ice cream. I’m planning on introducing it to my family as the new à la mode ice cream of choice for our Christmas pies. Can't get enough of the pawpaw?

We have more: Foraging for America's Forgotten Fruit Podcast: Looking for Pawpaws