Intolerance to Pawpaw Fruit

I don't think that peanut is toxic like snake venom but alot of people are allergic to it and some even die in less than 10 minutes.
I also dont think that pawpaw is toxic but others might be allergic to it.

In the Caribbean, it is traditionally prepared:
diluted with water + lime/lemon for the sour flavored ones
diluted with condensed milk + water.
I have never seen anyone heat treat it (syrup/bake/fry/boil)

I don't think I ever seen anyone eating over 1lbs of 'raw/fresh' fruit from the tree.
Compared to say banana, mangoes, sugar cane, 'apple', etc.

Either way, listen to your body.

Since moving to western Virginia and getting some land with wild pawpaws, we’ve been trying different recipes. Ice cream, cheesecake, pudding, and today pawpaw waffles. Seemed crazy but both my wife and I got nauseated after the waffles and hadn’t eaten anything else. Never had a problem with any other recipe. So perhaps it is the high heat of the waffle griddle that does something to the fatty acids as mentioned by others. We’ll probably stick to fresh or frozen at this point.

S Bengi wrote:
In the Caribbean, it is traditionally prepared:
diluted wi...

This discussion is not about papaya, it is about Asimina triloba, which does not grow in the Caribbean. The name "pawpaw" causes a lot of confusion. This "pawpaw," Asimina triloba, is native to the eastern US, places like Kentucky and Virginia, I think, though it can be grown in other temperate places. It is not a tropical fruit.

It belongs to the genus Asimina in the same plant family (the Annonaceae) as the TROPICAL custard-apple, cherimoya, sweetsop, ylang-ylang and soursop.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asimina_triloba

There is about 2000 species in the entire 'american pawpaw family - Annonaceae'
Out of the 2000 species only about 10 grows in temperate/american climate the others are all tropical.
Some native to the tropics of Central&South America including the Caribbean, others from tropical Africa and Asia.

In the Caribbean, custard-apple, cherimoya, sweetsop, and quite a few other 'wild' species are eaten (they are also all sweet). There are a few 'sour' species including soursop and it's related wild species.

I do understand that most of the former British colonies in the world except America use the world pawpaw to identify papaya, similar to football vs soccer.
Luckily I didn't get confused by pawpaw vs papaya.

It seems that alot of people in USA also eat the skin. In the Caribbean no one eats the skin similar to banana skin or orange skin.
In fact the leaves/bark/skin can be used as a toxic insecticide. Just soak them in some water and then spray the toxic tea on the plants that have been over-run by insects.

In fact some French guys came to the Caribbean started drinking 'pawpaw leaf tea' (specifically soursop leaf tea) and eating the skin of it.
It didn't end well for them, they ended up with Parkinsons and other brain disorder. In fact it is thru these 1990's test samples the western medical world was able to quantify the insecticide and neurotoxins in the pawpaw family.
https://scienceofparkinsons.com/2017/12/16/paq/#more-48745

Edit: Now that I think about it the pawpaws with citrus overtones (sour) are never eaten straight from the tree only the sweet ones were on occasion.
Instead they were neutralized with lime juice and milk.

But all is not lost, the pawpaw fruit also contain a host of wonderful MPAQ, PAQ and melatonin-like compounds that protect and rejuvenate neurons.
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.6b00297

Ethan Brazell wrote:We have two large 8 year old trees on our property that I picked up from a local native plant nursery. We have gotten about a hundred fruits between the two trees for the past three years and we usually eat a couple handfuls with no ill effects. This past week we've had quite a few, again with zero problems for me or my three young kids.
Today, for the first time we made pawpaw bread. It was pretty tasty and we liked it..but half way through my youngest said the bread was making him sick... (Something he really never does ) Soon after I started feeling nauseous, followed by my other two kids and then my wife. Eventually it induced vommiting for me..after which I felt immediately better. No fun, and all around unusual for us. It certainty hasn't ruined the fruit for me, or my love of the trees, but we won't be cooking with them again any time soon.

I'm not sure if you saw my post on this thread, but I tried baking pawpaw bread three times and became nauseous each time. Didn't catch on to the fact that it was the pawpaw in the oven that was causing the ill feeling until the third time. It was similar to feeling motion sickness. Headache, dry mouth, nausea. I've eaten plenty of raw pawpaw sine then with no problem.

duane hennon wrote:

IMHO
I think the entire subject is being overblown
I have been dealing with these fruits for over 20 years and have yet had anyone have a problem with them
either fresh or in breads, pies , puddings, or ice cream

If one would want to mention that those with sensitivities maywant to  be cautious is OK
but to paint them with a "the sky is falling" label is overkill

Funny...I didn't hear "the sky is falling" and I was grateful to hear input from other folks who have had the same/similar reaction to cooked pawpaw as I had. With anything new you put into your body it's good to be informed and cautious. I've been eating raw pawpaw like a voracious forest animal for almost 20 years and I enjoy it immensely. I'm also grateful to hear scientific theories of why the cooked pawpaw might have an adverse reaction to some people.

Dried, got nauseous from just a little.

Raw, I eat them at least 2 a day...just cant stop eating them!!!  And I love the smell.  No I'll effects.

I think I wont that one I just cooked though...

Nicole Alderman wrote:My husband has been super excited about a banana custard-flavored treat that he could eat, and telling him that they could cause more intestinal problems would likely crush his spirit. Mine's kind of crushed right now! We really don't want a Crohn's flare up (his flare ups include diarrhea for days, horrible stomach pain, arthritus so bad he was hospitalized, fistulas, interior and exterior ulcers and uveitis. He was was bedridden for a week last time, and then on crutches for about a month. It's been 6 months, and his knee is still not back to normal. This isn't something we want to mess around with!).

I don'e even know if I should we should try introducing them to him at all, or just get different varieties, or just introduce them really slowly. I'm just so sad!

I'm not a medical professional but here's my experience with autoimmune disease and pawpaws... I have ulcerative colitis and fresh pawpaw has NEVER given me any sort of discomfort or UC symptoms. Like others have mentioned, I too experience nausea and general gastrointestinal discomfort from cooked pawpaw's. I've made bread and muffins, both causing symptoms. I will say that these symptoms aren't similar to a UC flare up, but rather a mild case of food poisoning. Interesting enough, I've made a pawpaw pudding(baked at a much lower temperature), and didn't have an issue.

Hello, I'm just coming across this thread. Last year I found a pawpaw tree growing on my college campus, and picked a few. I ate one a little later that day, and didn't find it very good. I cut up the rest and froze them, thinking later I could make a smoother or something. Just yesterday I pureed and baked them into pawpaw bread (using banana bread recipe), thinking this would be more appetizing. However, let me tell you, I couldn't have been more wrong. I'm relieved to see that it's something that others have experienced, this horrible reaction. As I'm typing this, I am so extremely nauseous. I feel terrible having baked three small loaves, but I just can't eat it and don't think I'll take the chance giving it to someone else who may be more tolerant (if this is the proper term to use) and will have to throw it away. From someone who does what she can to avoid food waste it's not a good feeling, but the nausea is so much worse.. ugh!

I have been searching the internet for information on whether paw paws can make one sick.  I planted 2 saplings and 12 years later have loads of fruit - which I was eagerly awaiting.   Big oops, though.  I discovered that although I can tolerate raw paw paws  - for example in delicious home made ice cream - baked paw paw items, such as paw paw bread, made me sick almost immediately, as in pull over while driving and throw up.  Sorry for the details, but it was such an extreme and unexpected reaction!!  And a lot of disappointment, too.  It's all I can do to give them away. Lucky for me, I discovered the Wildlife Hospital in town will accept any and every paw paw.  I guess the bears and other critters tolerate them very well.

I'm grateful to find others sharing their experience of this. Three years ago I started getting fruit from trees I'd planted over 10 years earlier. The first year there were only enough fruits to eat them raw as they ripened. Last year there were so many, I tried pureeing and freezing, and also cooking. My partner and I were terribly nauseated, and I thought maybe I'd failed to cut out a bad spot or something. This year I have hundreds of fruits. I carefully washed, peeled, pureed, and baked a delightful dessert bread to share with my friends. Out of five of us, only one person was not terribly nauseated by the bread.

Apparently I can enjoy pawpaws ripe, scooping the custard right out with a spoon and directly into my mouth, and in ice cream. I'm so sad about not being able to cook them but I'm giving bags of pawpaws to my buddies and telling them they probably shouldn't cook 'em, either.

I am waiting for my first real crop of Pawpaw.  I have only eaten two before.  Here is some recipes from Kentucky State Pawpaw program.  https://kysu.edu/academics/cafsss/pawpaw/recipes-and-uses/

Hello, a few weeks ago my son and I tried some fresh pawpaw pulp and loved it. He picked some wild pawpaws. They became really ripe before we could use them, so he froze them. Then he used the pulp to make pawpaw bread.
We all ate some and got sick (vomited). Just thought I’d add that to this thread. Not sure if it was because the pawpaws had become rancid and we didn’t know (before baking), if they became rancid during the baking process, or if perhaps when he removed the pulp from the pawpaw he scraped too close to the skin. Just thought I’d share our experience here. Loved the bread before it made me sick!

If you go to the Kentucky State Pawpaw sight you will find discussions on suggested recipes.
Here is a link to a conference in 2016 where Processing Pawpaw was presented at 9:50 am.  https://kysu.edu/academics/cafsss/pawpaw/the-fourth-international-pawpaw-conference/


https://kysu.edu/academics/cafsss/pawpaw/

I bumped into this post accidently while looking up why people get sick after eating pawpaw fruit.. i had never heard of them but a lady offered me one and I was curious so I ate the whole thing..hours after it had me puking everything I had eaten but before that I felt sooooo nautious and the tip of my tongue felt tingly and kind of dumb..only ate one...took the skin and seeds off..my 6 year old daughter had some but only a bit..she said she didn't get sick

Here is a paper written by R Neal Peterson, owner of Peterson's Pawpaw and developer of many different varieties.
Also a Kentucky State resource.  https://kysu.edu/academics/cafsss/pawpaw/pawpaw-and-acetogenins/

I can not thank you all enough for having this candid conversation about cooked pawpaws.  Like many of you, I have eaten raw pawpaws for well over a decade with no ill effects.  Today, however, I thought I would try a recipe for pawpaw cookies ( see link here: https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/ksu-pawpaw/cooking.html ). I was just fine making the cookies and, in fact, they tasted incredibly delicious.  My wife thought so too.  Although I gave some to my children, I am overjoyed that they did not like it and spit it out.  The reason, like for many of you, is that we who did eat the cookies were vomiting within a couple of hours after ingestion.  I sincerely hope that this is the end of our reaction to them.

I completely agree that pawpaws are a wonderful fruit, but, as has been said in other circumstances, "To thine own self be true."  For those of us who can not eat pawpaws cooked, we should not do so.  It also would be well for extension schools to begin a well-documented scientific study of the fruit-- raw, cooked, frozen, and processed in other forms.  Has anyone learned of this happening since the first post of this thread?  Does anyone know how these types of studies begin and where funding might originate?

If anyone would do the study it would likely be Kentucky State and their Pawpaw webpages.  They may have some information there already.
https://www.kysu.edu/academics/college-acs/school-of-ace/pawpaw/index.php

I recently discovered Ohio Pawpaws. The first few times I ate them they were delicious and I had no reaction. The last two/three times I’ve eaten them I had almost a food poisoning type reaction. Severe gastric distress, light chills, stomach cramps and generally felt terrible. The first time I thought I must have the flu or covid but it passed within 24 hours. The second time I thought huh that is a coincidence and suspected the pawpaws and the last time I knew for sure. So sad because I love the flavor and that they can be foraged. Unfortunately they make me very sick. I have only eaten them raw and never ingested the skin nor the seeds.

I have eaten them and have never had a problem. My wife loves them too.  Maybe because I only eat one as a part of a meal.  Looking forward to making ice cream.

I just started working with my first pawpaws today. I was separating out the seeds and skin so that I could save and freeze the pulp for later use. Except for licking  my fingers a few times, I did not eat any pawpaw. Now that I am finished, I realized that my hands and fingers are buzzing like crazy. I have never had this feeling and can only attribute it to working with the fruit all day. Had this ever happened to anyone else???

maybe the skins. They can be used as an insecticide and are also being investigated for treating cancer.

I've been growing/eating pawpaws for nearly 30 years.  At first I was delighted with them; today, I can eat one, and I don't care if I have another until next year.
About 15 years ago, I made a batch of pawpaw cookies, using a recipe from the KSU website.  Daughter ate several, and I took the rest to work.  Every co-worker who ate them developed nausea, vomiting/diarrhea - if they weren't immediately put off by the taste.  Daughter also had vomiting.
No skin included.  No spoilage - I'm a microbiologist by education, and constantly vigilant about proper food storage and preparation.

Ever since, I'm somewhat reluctant to eat 'cooked' pawpaw products... I'll just stick to fresh uncooked preparations - like ice cream.
I've spoken with enough folks - and read enough testimonials - to know that drying/dehydrating pawpaw pulp is a no-no... guaranteed to have you staying close to the toilet.

After somebody at a paw paw festival told me he couldn't eat then without getting diarrhea, I realized that I also tend to have diarrhea after eating paw paws... But my paw paws ripen at the same time as my figs (not to mention peaches, plums, etc from the farmers market) so at this time of year I'm eating more fruit than usual and had chalked it up to that. Just wild-harvested some this weekend and ate one for breakfast and then felt slightly wobbly in the tummy and had diarrhea just a few hours afterwards.  So it might be I'm somewhat sensitive to this. I'd been planning to bake with them to see if that reduced my sensitivity, but after reading this I won't!

I also wanted to share this post about people on the Lewis and Clark expedition getting photosensitivity and other problems after eating paw paws!  Sounds like most of the people may have been fine?
https://www.nps.gov/articles/pawpaw-sickness-on-the-lewis-and-clark-expedition.htm

Interesting to learn that others have trouble with the cooked paw-paw.  I eat many raw.  I did hear some herbalists say to only eat them for 2 weeks at a time and then take a break.  I don't remember the reasoning specifically. Seems hard when they are in season, but we have tried to take breaks.  I do eat the skins some of the time with out problems as they are the richest in some nutrients.  
But vitamix pudding and no added sugar oatmeal cookies made me exhausted and nauseated. Throwing up did bring relief.  My son and husband also reacted.  
We have had not problems raw and in smoothies. I have frozen many, but will not be cooking with them.  The raw pie and ice cream ideas sound interesting however.  Will have to look for those recipes.
We are so fearfully and wonderfully made and so unique.  We must metabolize something differently than the general population.
Thankful for your thread to see this does happen to some.  I will give the disclaimer when I give my excess away.  

Thank you all for sharing your experiences. I guess we need to take care when trying new foods, but who would have thought cooking made it worse!
I love the idea of Pawpaw, such fascinating fruit.

source
I don't know whether they are likely to grow in my climate, but would rather know I can eat them before making the investment in time and effort to try and grow them!

I suggest going to Kentucky State U. website on Pawpaw. They list recipes that have success.
Cooking pawpaw is not a problem.  Sentsitivity may be. Like many fruits and veggies people can have allergies.
https://www.kysu.edu/academics/college-acs/school-of-ace/pawpaw/index.php
I suspect the problem was in drying or dehydrating pawpaw which they warn against.

I admit to not converting, but always amazed by the almost cultish attachment to this tree and fruit that takes a long time to yield, has a very limited harvest season, doesn’t store well and is toxic. I realize I am speaking heresy in some groups and I’m glad to hear that some are questioning the value.

I thought this was an interesting read: may help explain.

https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-278/american-pawpaw

Richard Kastanie wrote:I've long been enthusiastic about pawpaws, even attending the Ohio Pawpaw Festival a couple of years ago. I love the flavor of most pawpaws. However, before these past few years, I never had a chance to eat them in quantity. This is the second Pawpaw season that I've eaten a bunch, and have realized if I eat more than a few I react badly to them. Some others that I've talked to report the same thing. I just want to start this thread to hear others experiences, especially if you've made pawpaws a significant part of your diet, if only for a few weeks each year, or if you've processed them at all.

For me, it's not an allergic reaction. I can eat 3 or 4 a day for a couple of days and be fine, but if I keep it up they'll upset my stomach, as well as make me chilly and other neurological symptoms. These continue a few days after I stop eating them. This past weekend, I made a cornbread which included pureed pawpaws. This seemed to affect me dramatically more than fresh pawpaws do. Others are the cornbread and liked it, but after my reaction, I pressed them for an honest answer about if the pawpaw cornbread disturbed their system at all, and several said yes, although not as extreme as my reaction (I tend to be particularly sensitive to things like this).

I did some research and found out that the related tropical fruits soursop and graviola may be linked to an atypical form of Parkinson's in some sensitive individuals, and that the pawpaw has the same chemical, Annonacin, that may be responsible. I'm always skeptical of these studies that reduce the complexities of a whole food to a single chemical (the idea that Sassafras is carcinogenic is very suspect to me) but for the pawpaw it makes sense considering my own experience.

The Pawpaw does have a long history of being eaten, from American Indian times through pioneer days to now. I wonder just how much was typically eaten, if native people knew which stands were better quality, had a way of processing them, or were just highly adapted to eating them. I know plenty of people who like pawpaws but they mostly seem not to eat them in large quantities. I love my fruit, and will eat many servings of fruit a day if they're available. I just can't do that with pawpaws. Does anyone on this forum make pawpaws a regular part of their diet even if just briefly during harvest season? If so, does it work for you? I'm just trying to get to the bottom of this, there's more and more interest in pawpaws as an alternative crop, some even saying that it could be a superfood, but it seems to me that for at least a portion of people it just doesn't work to eat eat them more often then just as an occasional novelty, and processing and/or cooking may make it worse.

In the longer term, it should be possible to breed pawpaws with fewer toxins. Some varieties tested had more annonacin than others, if that is in fact the main culprit, selective breeding could result in a more agreeable pawpaw. Plenty of traditional foods (potatoes being one example) came from a wild ancestor with problematic levels of a toxin, and the selection that came with domestication reduced them. Also, traditional ways of food preparation often include processing that makes them easier to handle (think soaking beans). Possibly some of the native people in the pawpaw's native range had such a method that's now lost. So, I still think there's potential in pawpaws, but this issue needs to be put out there as the pawpaw has attracted more attention.

By the sounds of it, cooked paw paw may be the next up and coming diet trend because it makes people nauseous.

?

when pawpaw come ripe i eat 3-5/day for those weeks. Nov 5 2022 ate last pawpaw b4 going South.  Nov 2 2021 snowbirded to FL  b4 any got ripe.  i wash the white stuff [saponin?] off sometimes as it is bitter/soapy taste to me.  sometimes i eat one right off the ground if i'm walking away from house/water.  i eat the skin [ tart counterpoint to the sweet pulp].  sometime i spit the seeds at targets a la watermelon.  my tree was damaged one year by a branch falling from a large elm tree nearby, many saplings appeared the next year. i now have a pawpaw patch!  Butterfly ?zebra swallowtail likes pawpaw. i have never seen bugs on fruit on the tree. wash pawpaw in bucket of water and use that for insect repeller maybe? local brewer will make pawpaw beer.
i think pawpaw look like schmo depicted in Al Capp cartoons in ancient Sunday funnies newspaper section [Daisy Mae et al ].  aha Lil' Abner, Joe Bltzzfkk, who else?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrDPVMO4p-8

PawPaws are growing in one of my orchards. I WANT to love them… but I don’t.  On the surface they taste delicious, but deep down there is something about the taste / smell that warns my body to be careful. Listen to your body’s signals.