Pawpaw Puree Recipes

PAWPAW PUREE

Steps:

• 1. Check a pawpaws ripeness by squeezing gently, as you would a peach. The flesh should be soft, and the fruit should have a strong, pleasant aroma. The skin color of ripe fruit on the tree ranges from green to yellow, and dark flecks may appear, as on bananas. Ripe pawpaws last only a few days at room temperature, but may be kept for a week in the refrigerator. Ripe pawpaw meat, with skin and seeds removed, can be pureed and frozen for later use. Simply peel the pawpaw and place chunks of the fruit in a blender or food processor to puree.
• 2. The pawpaw is the largest fruit that you can eat that is native to the United States. Pawpaws grow in 26 states in the eastern U.S. Most are wild and grow in wooded areas. They provide delicious and nutritious food. People usually eat them raw. The flavor of the fruit is like a blend of tropical flavors, including banana, pineapple, and mango. If you would like to try cooking with them pawpaws are a good substitute for bananas in almost any recipe.
• 3. Pawpaws are are high in vitamin C, magnesium, iron, copper, and manganese. They are a good source of potassium and several essential amino acids, and they also contain significant amounts of riboflavin, niacin, calcium, phosphorus, and zinc.

PAWPAW BREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease the bottom of an 8-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
• Combine sugar and butter in a bowl; beat together until smooth. Beat in eggs. Add pawpaw pulp and water; beat until combined, about 30 seconds. Stir in flour, walnuts, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Pour into the prepared loaf pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Allow to cool before slicing, about 30 minutes.

PAW PAW CHEESECAKE

Steps:

• First bake the crust. Preheat the oven to 350, then melt the butter and mix with the graham crumbs cinnamon, salt, and the ground walnuts.
• Press the mixture into an 8 inch spring form pan, or square baking dish, then bake for 12-13 minutes, or until lightly browned.
• Cool the crust while you prepare the filling.
• For the filling, beat the eggs, yolks and sugar with a whisk in a stand mixer until light and doubled in volume. Meanwhile, puree the cream cheese and the paw paw puree in a food processor until smooth.
• Add the paw-paw cheese mixture to the whipped eggs and continue mixing with the whisk attachment for 15 minutes, then fold in the lemon juice and zest, and pour into the cooled crust.
• In a pan the spring form pan can fit inside, put an upside down metal bowl covered with a towel. The idea here is you need to elevate the cheesecake above the water so it doesn't get inside the pan. Another way to do this is with a roasting tray fitted with a rack.
• Pour hot water into the pan to come nearly up to the spring form pan, then put the cheesecake into the pan, uncovered.
• Bake at 300 F for 70-80 minutes, making sure to check on it regularly at the end.
• The cheesecake needs to be appear slightly under-baked, and should giggle gently in the middle. If you've cooked a custard before, this will be familiar.
• Turn off the oven, and allow the cheesecake to continue cooking, uncovered, until room temperature, then remove, and refrigerate until needed, uncovered.
• The cheese cake can also be cooked ahead and frozen, then thawed.