Intolerance to Pawpaw Fruit

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.

I also started out highly enthusiastic about pawpaws. After having access to lots of them for the last few years, I am no longer excited about them. Both me and my wife now find them nauseating. We also have friends who feel the same way. They seem like such wonderful native trees, but I don't see how I would want to have them be a staple in my diet.
In my nursery I get so many requests for pawpaws that I keep growing them. They seem like a good wildlife tree and there are certainly worse things to grow, but I think the American persimmon is so much better to grow for fruit. We have eaten them in great quantity several years now, and they are always amazing with several uses.
You are certainly not alone in having negative reactions to lots of pawpaws. A couple friends made pawpaw fruit leather, and got so sick that they thought they had food poisoning. Apparently there are fats in the pawpaw that go rancid during drying.
At least all the fallen pawpaws can be eaten by livestock or wildlife if not by us.

hi,

I grow pawpaws and go to fall harvest festivals to promote them
I've only had a few people have problems after eating them
to me pawpaws are almost a "food concentrate" and would never recommend
people nowadays eating more than one at a time

they're also not for everyone,
especially with the prevalence of allergies, diabetes, fructose intolerance, etc
moderation, as always, is key


http://www.ars.usda.gov/Main/docs.htm?docid=11368

Nutritional Aspects

The pawpaw has high nutritional qualities compared to typical temperate fruits such as apple and peach (Peterson, 1991). The fruit has a particularly low moisture content, high caloric content, high content for vitamins A and C, minerals P, Mg, S, Ca and Fe, and the essential fatty acids linoleic and linolenic. This fruit is also notable for a higher protein content than that of other temperate fruits and for an exceptionally favorable amino acid balance (Peterson, 1991).

A Word of Caution

While many people enjoy the taste of pawpaw, some individuals become sick after eating the fruit. Skin rash, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea can develop. In other cases, individuals may be allergic to the leaves or the fruit skin (Peterson, 1991).

Many tissues of this tree, especially bark, leaves, and seeds, contain a variety of alkaloids, phenolic acids, proanthocyanidins, tannins, flavinoids, and acetogenins. While these chemicals can cause allergic reactions, some of them are anticarcenogens and still others have natural or botanical pesticide qualities (McLaughlin and Hui, 1993; Zhao et al., 1994.)

You could have an allergy. Many people are allergic to tree nuts, for example. The study that showed the neurological problems had people eating the leaves quite a bit. I never eat the leaves. I don't even eat the skin. I have eaten a lot and I've never been sick. Two cultivars have been shown to have very little of the potentially affecting chemical: Wells and Sunflower. I grow both for that reason. I grow other seedlings as well.
John S
PDX OR

John Saltveit wrote:You could have an allergy. Many people are allergic to tree nuts, for example. The study that showed the neurological problems had people eating the leaves quite a bit. I never eat the leaves. I don't even eat the skin. I have eaten a lot and I've never been sick. Two cultivars have been shown to have very little of the potentially affecting chemical: Wells and Sunflower. I grow both for that reason. I grow other seedlings as well.
John S
PDX OR

Interesting. I've never had pawpaws before, but decided to use them in my developing food forest. Just so happens I chose both these varieties as they come to bearing age a bit quicker. Glad I chose them now.

Besides Sunflower and Wells, I have seen Wabash, Potomac and Zimmerman listed as having low annonacin. The only one of those I've eaten is Sunflower, but it was during a day that I also ate several other Varieties, so I can't say how my reaction compared. If I get the chance, I'll eat one of those varieties and none other for a few days before and after.

Some may have allergies, but personally I know my reaction isn't like the allergies that I have, its an intolerance. Allergies are a specific reaction of the immune system, intolerances are the result of whatever is in the food directly affecting your body. Some people are much more prone to intolerances than others. If I eat MSG, I get a neurological reaction, that's an intolerance to a neurotoxin, not an allergy. Many people are able to metabolize the same foods without any reaction, which is why I wanted to get more input on others' pawpaw eating habits and their reactions, if any. From what I've heard from various people so far, it sounds like pawpaws are much more likely to cause these issues than most other fruits, although it varies from person to person.

To those who have said they eat a lot with no issues, how much is "a lot" of pawpaws for you? Do you always eat them fresh, or do you ever puree them or cook with them?

http://www.ars.usda.gov/Main/docs.htm?docid=11368

Nutritional Aspects

The pawpaw has high nutritional qualities compared to typical temperate fruits such as apple and peach (Peterson, 1991). The fruit has a particularly low moisture content, high caloric content, high content for vitamins A and C, minerals P, Mg, S, Ca and Fe, and the essential fatty acids linoleic and linolenic. This fruit is also notable for a higher protein content than that of other temperate fruits and for an exceptionally favorable amino acid balance (Peterson, 1991).


Pawpaws are not apples and shouldn't be treated as such
they are "different" than the normal fruit grown in temperate regions
they also haven't undergone the selection process that has blandified most commonly grown fruits
they have the potential to cause problems because they still contain stuff
just like wild greens and other wild foods may cause problems for some who eat them

one medium pawpaw is usually my limit because of the richness and sugar
how many cans of banana creme pie filling can you eat at a time?

Excellent distinction between allergy and negative reaction. Many people have a strong negative reaction to bitter flavors, for example, and it's not an allergy. It's just a food difference. The Traditional Chinese health system has some really interesting viewpoints about individual differences and how to adjust the diet for each person.

When you have mature paw paw trees and you do the hand pollination thing, you can get amazing numbers of pawpaws. I am still finding baby pawpaw seedlings from 3,4, and 5 years ago. We moved houses and we couldn't bring the trees with us. Ours were slightly staggered in terms of harvest time: one was typically all of September and another was basically all of October. We probably got 30-50 fruit off each tree, and each fruit is huge! They had more seeds than a selected Petersen variety, but it was still a lot of fruit!. No one, including the neighbors we traded them with, ever had any kind of negative reaction.

One variety tasted more like vanilla and banana and the other had a more complex flavor, like cider does when it has tannins and astringent cider apples. Maybe with some butterscotch thrown in or caramel. The studies made sure that people understood that the flavor improvements, if you think they are, that Petersen did, had no effect upon annonacin.

Great information, Richard.
John S
PDX OR

I've never heard about intolerance to Paw Paw, but it's too rare to have a big "test" population....anyway i like it very much, obviously you can't eat 5 fruit each day for one month or more (the time of ripening)....but eating just one or two every day will not nauseate myself

The truth is that I can easily eat 5 fruits a day of apples, pears, peaches, persimmons, plums, bananas, etc.
Pawpaws make me and my family feel nausea. We can't use them as a staple like other fruits. I am in the midst of planting orchards and can only think of pawpaws as an interesting side feature, but never as a centerpiece.
I think folks should know about this topic when planning out their plantings.

Thanks for all the replies, it's nice to hear othets' thoughts on this. A few more things,

Akika, your experience sounds similar to mine. I know my pawpaw reaction is more than simply a reaction to richness and sugar, as I know what too much sugar feels like, and it's nothing like the pawpaw reaction. Like you, I can eat a lot of American persimmons without any problems, and plenty of other wild fruit as well.

John Saltveit, I agree with you about different foods being good for different body types. I never meant to suggest pawpaw was bad for everyone, just that it seems to be a strong acting food that at least a portion of people react badly to. It also has medicinal qualities too, but like any medicine it can be the wrong thing for certain constitutions, and its something to be aware of. I'm wondering in what quantity most of your friends and neighbors that you've been giving them to have eaten? When I was only able to eat them as an occasional curiosity, I never had enough to notice a significant reaction, but when I ate 3 or 4 a day for five days in a row or so, I was pretty out of whack even for a few days after I stopped eating them.

I'm still interested if there's anyone who regularly purees and/or cooks them, and if you still tolerate them when prepared those ways, as my one experience pureeing and cooking them into a cornbread seemed to intensify their negative effects, and one other person I know says he eats them in moderation, but never purees them as it makes him sick.

Many people make ice cream out of them, or pudding like desserts. I think they taste great as they are, so I don't do anything to them.
John S
PDX OR

This is very interesting. Since they are relatives with Soursop, it might be that is a medicinal fruit, and has to be eaten in small quantities. Interestingly, I just tried spaghetti squash couple of days ago, and it made me nauseated immediately - almost the second I swallowed it. I might try to cook it longer.

I have the same issue on Poppaw's after eating a bunch for a couple years I can't stand the taste of them hardly anymore but I freeze gallons of persimmons anytime you're around much more usable fruit with some guys here make fruit leather out of Poppaw and they got really sick had stuff coming out both ends

I'm new to this site. I found it looking for information about adverse reactions to cooked pawpaw. I can eat them raw, but when I bake them in bread, even the air makes me nauseous. I didn't realize that was causing it the first couple time. But the third time I baked an oven full of pawpaw bread and it was clearly making me sick. It's not just the odor. It must be whatever chemical it emits when it's cooked. I couldn't find any other reference to it online.

This is an interesting thread as I'm just seeing some paw-paw seeds germinate that I had ordered last year.  As paw paws are native to North America and were considered part of Native American diet (yes?), is there information about the way in which they ate or prepared paw-paw if the reactions turn out to be somewhat general to the human system?  It would be akin to the fact that horse chestnuts are not generally edible, but the Native Americans had figured out a preparation regime to reduce the alkaloid toxicity and render the nutmeat edible.  Thoughts?

I haven't been able to find much information online regarding intolerance to the fruit. And I haven't researched how the American Indians prepared and ate pawpaw.
You might try contacting the University of Kentucky.

Thank you for this information!  I am unable to eat fresh pineapple, nor can I eat any of the exotic fruits. The fluid, even just cutting, makes me itch terribly, and my throat itches if I taste even a bite.  I do eat 3-5 fruits a day, usually, but I stick to the fruits I grew up on, that seems to keep me free of the reactions.  Sometimes boring, especially as our market brings such lovely choices, but safe

This is so helpful, as I have been planning to plant a few fruit trees next spring, thank you all.  I have saved apple seeds, peach seeds, and have very small barbados cherry plants, along with lemons and limes. I hope to add a few others from a nearby organic grower. With allergies, eczema, and systemic lupus,  I have very specific health needs, and appreciate the thoughts of all these forums, thank you.

My paw paw trees are too small to bear yet.
I would be VERY interested in how the natives ate them, please update us with any information anyone learns!!

Reading this thread though, I'm wondering if the rich sweetness would make good wine/mead? Or if that would make it bad too? I'll watch for this in a couple of years when my baby trees produce. And if I make a batch of ferment that is no good, I'll turn it to ethanol and throw it in the car

Regarding allergies vs intolerance: That's something I have wars with medical people about. Their definition of  "allergy" is one specific chemical reaction involving histamine, if you don't do that, you aren't allergic, and they won't listen to "my body is intolerant of that" Yes, I'll admit, I don't get a rash or sneeze, but I puke for days, list it as an allergy so no one ever gives it to me again. "So you aren't allergic? Let's try it again then!"  augh!!

Last October after returning from my families farm in Arkansas my daughter developed a rash on her face and body.  It went away after about 5 days.  The same thing happened 3 weeks ago but didn't happen when she went in the spring.  It really bothered me that she was having issues at our farm. I was analyzing what was different from our spring trips from our fall trips when I came up with the idea that she was allergic to pawpaws as we had eaten them on both fall trips.  So last night before bed I gave her a bite of one.  5 hours later she woke in the middle of the night with bumps on her head and back.  She felt good enough to go to school this morning but my wife picked her up a short while ago as she has a slight fever and headache.  I guess I should have googled before letting her try the fruit again but in my wildest dreams I never thought I was right. Does anyone have any information of treating these symptoms?  I am guessing they will go away after several days but I hate that she is not feeling well but glad to know how to prevent issues in the future.

Pearl Sutton wrote:My paw paw trees are too small to bear yet.
I would be VERY interested in how the natives ate them, please update us with any information anyone learns!!

Reading this thread though, I'm wondering if the rich sweetness would make good wine/mead? Or if that would make it bad too? I'll watch for this in a couple of years when my baby trees produce. And if I make a batch of ferment that is no good, I'll turn it to ethanol and throw it in the car

Regarding allergies vs intolerance: That's something I have wars with medical people about. Their definition of  "allergy" is one specific chemical reaction involving histamine, if you don't do that, you aren't allergic, and they won't listen to "my body is intolerant of that" Yes, I'll admit, I don't get a rash or sneeze, but I puke for days, list it as an allergy so no one ever gives it to me again. "So you aren't allergic? Let's try it again then!"  augh!!

I've never had a pawpaw, but was interested in planting some just to get a taste, so I'm quite interested in this thread. I just wanted to mention that Mother Earth News just put out a really good (too me at least) article on making wine with pawpaws. Apparently it tastes quite good, so you'll probably be able to find it on the wedsite. Found it! http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/fermenting/mead-brewing-zm0z17aszmar

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.

Ethan Brazell wrote:... 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.

Thanks for this addition, Ethan....something to watch out for.  Can you pretty well rule out any of the other ingredients in the bread?  Something I will really be logging into my noggin' with some new paw paw trees on the property.  Thanks!

I am feeling a bit guilty that I have served this fruit to kids in classroom presentations. Fortunately, none of the kids had any ill effects. I have eaten pawpaws several times, myself, and have eaten quite a bit once or twice. It seems as if this is an intolerance that may build with time and with quantity. My sister had a similar reaction to strawberries, after eating a large quantity. If there were a similar thread on peanut intolerance, would we see lots of entries from folks who have nut allergies? Probably some, but it seems that pawpaw intolerance can happen to just about anyone.

Just shared this thread's info on my Food Forest card game thread, since the pawpaw is a card in the deck. I'll probably add a warning on the pawpaw card with the next printing: https://permies.com/t/61704/Food-Forest-Card-Game-Game

I'm glad this thread got bumped up. My husband has Crohn's and is really limited on what he can eat (he's on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet). But, since he can eat most fruits, we've been really trying to plant a lot to get variety in his diet. This year we planted a Mango and a Shenandoah pawpaw, not knowing that pawpaws often lead to upset stomach. Does anyone know how much of the offending chemical is in those varieties? 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!

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

"Thanks for this addition, Ethan....something to watch out for.  Can you pretty well rule out any of the other ingredients in the bread?  Something I will really be logging into my noggin' with some new paw paw trees on the property.  Thanks!"


 Yes John we are confident that we can definitely rule out the other simple ingredients. We are always very careful what goes into our bodies, and we pay attention to how the food affects the way we feel. This was a distinct reaction that we had not experienced before from any of the other ingredients.

 I planted the trees at a time when I was really into permaculture concepts and I was planting our new property with a food forest to the best of my abilities. After much research on native plants and food forests, I came across pawpaws and was very intrigued. I had had them only once before planting, and I used what was given to me to bake a custard pie with the fruit. I only had small amounts to eat at that time (maybe 1 or 2 small pieces) and I remember liking it....but actually feeling kind of funny afterwards, to be honest. In retrospect I may have been feeling a milder version of what I experienced yesterday, but I wrote it off at the time to being unfamiliar with the fruit.

 Having eaten tons of the raw ones with no negative effects, I had never even considered the fact that they could make us feel ill..
 After my experience last night (getting sick from them,) I got online and searched the "getting sick from pawpaws" and ended up here. I always read but never post to forums, but I thought  that if it could be helpful to someone to post this story on this board, then it was worth it.  For the record, after getting them out of my system I felt immediately better and had a HUGE delicious dinner and felt great...so thankfully there were no lasting problems.

  I am not the kind of person to overreact or to suggest the sky is falling...  I coordinate operations at an 8 acre farm as part of a school that I work for. I have brought pawpaws in for staff and students, suggested them and offered them to everyone that showed interest, grew them from seed and sold baby trees them at farm stands. I will continue to do so, for sure.  I will however explain what happened to me after eating the cooked ones so that folks are informed.
 Thanks for the info everyone, and I hope this helps:)

I received an email from Sheri Crabtree of Kentucky State University, and she answered a lot of our questions. Here's the email:

Hi Nicole,

Heating/cooking does not affect annonacin. As far as I know annonacin is not what causes stomach upset (maybe in very large quantities like of purified compounds people might take for alternative cancer treatment), although it is possible some people could be sensitive to it. Stomach upset eating pawpaw seems worse in cooked pawpaw, and even worse in dried pawpaw/fruit leather-  I have heard enough reports of people getting sick to their stomach eating pawpaw fruit leather that I would not recommend making it. We are not sure what causes this stomach upset though, we have speculated fatty acids that go rancid in the drying or heating process but that is just a guess. Also some people can have allergies or sensitivities to pawpaw.

We have not tested Mango. Shenandoah was high in acetogenins. So far we have found levels to be high in: NC-1, Overleese, Mitchell, Middletown, Shenandoah, and Susquehanna, and low in: Sunflower, Wabash, Potomac, Zimmerman, and Wells.

We have a list of recipes at : http://www.pawpaw.kysu.edu/Recipes.htm

If you have any other questions, just let me know!

Sheri

Great information Nicole.
I like it when people have enough information to figure out what is likely the real reason for their reactions.
John S
PDX OR

I wonder how extensive the testing of the effects of cooking/processing on annonacin were? Heating, drying, pureeing etc. may not affect the levels of annonacin but could still affect the bio availability of it. Or it could be something other than annonacin, or a combination of factors. Plants are way more comples than chemicals in isolation, which is why I love threads like this where people's experiences are shared. Ultimately my experience is why I don't eat more than small amounts of pawpaw anymore, but it seems like people have widely varying tolerances for it.

I found this thread searching for reactions to paw paw fruits. Even though it is 2 years old, I'd like to add something to the discussion. I've been officially diagnosed with a paw paw allergy, but I don't think that I have one. Both of my parents' families loved them. My paternal grandmother planted and kept a tree that became huge next to her home, and it still bears a huge crop every year, though she is long gone. My mother's family loved foraging for them. My husband and I have toyed with propogating them for a cash crop. I've planted 6 around my home as part of a small permaculture, along with hazelnuts, quince, pears, apples, grapes, elderberries and brambles.

My husband's family has 200 acres with a number of stands, and the last year they were loaded like I've never seen before. This past fall, I put up about 8 quarts of paw paw pulp, and landed myself in the emergency room with severe, painful photophobia. Light coming over the door in a dark room hurt my eyes. That is not an exaggeration - it really did. I received cortisone shots, 3 kinds of eyedrops including one that suppresses ocular pain that they normally will not give patients to take home. I have regular appointments with an olphthalmologist, to monitor my eyes, ever since. It is February, and I still have intermittent photophobia. After looking it up extensively, I really think that it was cleaning the seeds that caused the problem. This week, I finally pulled some of the pulp out of the freezer. I've been terrified of using it. Yesterday, I took a taste. Today, I took a spoonful. No real problems.

Processing-wise, I depulped the seeds after peeling the paw paws. I used an old applesauce collander with the wooden squisher. I don't remember the official names. I spooned, and handpicked the seeds out of the collander. I suspect some of the seed coating rubbed off into the pulp, this way, which is the primary source of my fear. The seeds sat overnight, and the next day, I poured them into a bowl, put some warm water in it, and cleaned them with my hands. I cleaned probably a couple hundred seeds. I put them on cookie trays to dry in the sun. Before I was finished with this process, my eyes began to hurt. I finished, but by the end of the day, I was in the bedroom with the curtain closed and the door shut, curled up. By next morning, I had moved to the darkest room in the house, in the basement, with something over my eyes because the light over the door hurt. I had my husband take me to the ER before dawn. I was told never to eat, or be around paw paws again.

I did not break out in hives. I did not have trouble breathing. I did not itch. The photophobia, however, has lingered mildly for months. I am determined to continue using paw paws. I think it is extremely important, given my experience, to consider how they are processed as a cash crop, though, for safety purposes. We've started a small grove of elderberries, and are hoping to expand it. They also have the issue of having cyanide in the leaves and seeds. So care must be taken that they are not used extensively, raw. Cooking dissipates the poisons, so we may use them for jellies and syrups. Similarly, safe processing standards should be developed for paw paws.

We also grow pawpaws. I once had an uneasy stomach after eating some and was told by one of our local tree experts that the toxins were concentrated next to the skin. Of course, my sister said that she always knew that.  Now we hand out fruit with the warning ' don't scrape next to the skin'. We try not to waste any so we eat a lot. Hope this helps.
From the Carolinian zone of Essex County, Ontario, Canada.

There is a fine line between medicine and poison. Many foods that are highly nutritious aren't good if eaten the wrong way-potatoes and tomato leaves come to mind.  Elderberry as well. Raw beans. There is a reason for traditional preparation of foods.

Even more important than the varieties of pawpaw that are high in acetogenins would be to know which are low in them.  I bought and planted Sunflower and Wells varieties a few years ago because they were the first two listed. Someone on a fruit list wrote me saying, "Besides Sunflower and Wells, I have seen Wabash, Potomac and Zimmerman listed as having low annonacin.  "

I have eaten paw paw for about 15 years. Everyone in my family does too.  No one has gotten sick.  We only eat it raw and avoid the skin.  It has promise as an anti-cancer agent.  Several companies are working on this.

John S
PDX OR

Kudos to Nicole for a plausible account of a possible cause for people reacting to cooked/baked/dried paw paws. Unsaturated fatty acids and related chemicals (e.g. epoxides) can exert gross effects on the body -- see "pine nut dysgeusia" for example, or "urushiol". To try a pie, if you can't stand cooked pawpaw, get unflavored gelatin (available in sheets, or as a prepared powder for Vodka gel shots) and work it up in 1/2 the recommended total (vs. the final product, including vodka or whatever) volume of water. Let it cool to room temperature, then mix in the other 1/2 as pureed pawpaw pulp (if you freeze it in airtight containers (e.g. used plastic screw-cap peanut butter bottles) it retains color and flavor), then chill in pastry shells. Voila\!
I tolerate unlimited amounts of raw pawpaw (so far!), and will happily provide free seedlings if you happen by Princeton, NJ area (609.731.3882 for directions).
If you process large amounts of seed you might want to wear a rubber glove. A micropile-fiber glove is also handy if you rub your own dried sage leaves, to avoid skinned knuckles (micropile doesn't shed the way cotton would) ....

to Gwen Griffin: You may dissipate cyanide by boiling your elderberries, but (if you haven't already found out) you will cook a green, tannic slime out of elderberry seeds if you cook them too long. The juice then becomes queasiness-inducing, to say the least.

Does anyone know if pawpaws can be fed to pigs or other livestock? It would be a way to use them should someone have an intolerance and already have a stand of pawpaw trees

Pawpaws to pigs? That's a hard one to answer. On the one hand, pigs are usually good at detecting what's good for them and what's not. On the other hand, they're likely to swallow the seeds, and that's probably not a good idea, since all the sugar apple family fruit seeds are toxic, and pigs' biochemistry loosely parallels humans'. You might inquire on an IFAS (or equivalent) site in Puerto Rico, perhaps. A secondary issue might be, if the pigs were neurologically affected, would the annonacin have been metabolized, or would it still be present in the carcass and meat? Reference (noting lack of epidemiological evidence for pawpaw neurotoxic effects): https://www.reddit.com/r/foraging/comments/6zu8fj/dont_eat_raw_pawpaw_it_contains_a_neurotoxin/#bottom-comments
Speaking of which, consumption of large quantities of persimmon fruit is said to dispose one to formation in the stomach of insoluble tannin masses, called bezoars. Have you ever read of anything similar happening with pigs?

I have pawpaw trees flowering for the first time this year that I grew from seed, any suggestions that might help such as fertilizer? I have them in 30 gallon containers with the bottoms cut out

A friend just brought me a pawpaw to try (the first time I've ever had one), and she asked me to save the seeds for her to replant.  I put the eight seeds in a bowl on the counter; when I came back through the kitchen there were only six.  I think my mentally handicapped adult daughter ate the two missing seeds (she has eaten several things in the last few months that should not have been eaten).  I see that they are toxic -- how toxic?  I don't know if she swallowed them whole or chewed them and asking her won't get any information.

Kathleen

hau Kathleen, I posted to your thread about this.  Redhawk