For canning? No, there aren't any. Not a high demand item so no testing has been done on them.

For cooking use, fresh use, yes many recipes are available. We make Paw Paw cookies and freeze them.

Paw Paw Cookies

1 1/2 c. Paw Paw pulp
3/4 c. shortening
1 1/3 c. sugar
1 egg
3 c. sifted flour
1 Tbsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon

Cream the shortening and sugar. Add beaten egg and pawpaw. Stir in the dry ingredients, which have been sifted together, and mix well. Form into small balls and place on cookie sheet. Press into round flat shape with the bottom of a glass that has been lightly greased. Bake in a moderate oven about 15 minutes.

Dave

Dave, yeah, I'm interested in canning them.

Well then I wish you luck. ;) USDA and NCHFP don't even know they exist so you won't find any approved recipes for them. They are low acid though so exchanging them for other fruits likely won't work and wouldn't be safe - with the possible exception of figs since they are also low acid.

Stick with freezing.

Dave

Damn, really, they're low acid? That's an issue, all right. Hm.

valereee, you might check this site
http://www.pawpaw.kysu.edu/default.htm
Kentucky State University is the USDA National Clonal Repository for Pawpaw. This site has quite a few recipes and email contacts. I saw one recipe for preserves which you might look at and then ask the gurus around here about it...
you just missed the PawPaw Festival in Albany, Ohio.. no kidding ... there's a link on the above site.
just out of curousity, can you describe the taste of a paw paw? I've never seen one, much less tasted one.
Kay

Kay, thanks! Pawpaws have the texture of a mango, flavor of a banana. When they're ripe, the texture is like custard and the taste mild and sweet.

Interesting that someone should post this -- I was wondering the same thing, more or less. I picked 3/4ths of a bushel of them yesterday. Now, what to do with them all?

I found some recipes from Kansas State University. They include a recipe for paw paw preserves, which are canned, but it looks really dubious to me -- I am SURE that paw paws (based only upon my "gut feeling" no research, etc.) are really low acid, and that this could be unsafe. The recipe includes a little bit of lemon, but I don't think it's enough to make it safe.

On the Beverly Hillbilies, years ago, Granny used to talk about her pickled paw paws (along with her pickled hawk eggs, yuck!) -- perhaps we should invent something along these lines ourselves, I'll have to fiddle with this.

I did invent a recipe tonight, paw paw blondies, with a brown sugar/crumb type topping. Those turned out very nice:

3 large paw paws, peeled, seeded, and pureed.
1.5 cups of flour
1 large egg
1/4 cup oil (neutral flavored, I used canola)
1 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 cup of water, if batter is too thick.

Just mix it all up, pour into a 6 x 9 pan, spread it out evenly, bake at 350. When about 3/4s done, cover with this mix:

1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter , all creamed together until smooth.

I sort of just poured the topping mix over it, and once it melted, smoothed it out. Then, at the very end, I switched to the broiler mode and crisped and browned the topping just a bit under the broiler -- came out crispy and crunchy.

It took about 30 minutes total to bake.

A word of caution -- I'm not a measurer by nature, I just dump stuff in a bowl, and go by look, feel, taste, texture, etc, so the above measurements are just approximations.

Nuts would be nice in these, especially pecans or macadamias.

Dennis
SE Michigan

Here is a link that might be useful: Paw Paw Recipes Link

Dennis, wow, 3/4 bushel! That a lot of pawpaws! Apparently the pulp freezes well, so I'd probably do that. I'm going to make chutney and freeze.

Hm, on the pawpaw preserves recipe. (That's actually Kentucky State U's website, btw -- don't know if pawpaws grow in Kansas.) It seems like a university website ought to have its act together as far as canning safety goes, doesn't it? Maybe I'll email them.

Val

Well, they don't even have a school of nutrition or food science, and the extension service is over at the University of Kentucky. I doubt seriously that they know what they're doing.

Yup, sorry, you're right, that was Kentucky, not Kansas, and I see it was already posted prior before I did.

I put 8 bags of paw paw flesh in the freezer last night -- it is very tedious to get the seeds out, so I took the lazy man's way out and just froze with the seeds in, and will take them out when I use them.

I posted a few pictures of my crop and the tree I picked it off of over on Idig. I have a second tree that seems just a tad later, have to do those in the next day or two, but it doesn't have nearly as many.

Here is a link that might be useful: My paw paw harvest

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/ksu-pawpaw/cooking.html