Pawpaw Season at Prairie Oaks
As a kid, my only memory of the pawpaw came from Baloo the Bear in The Jungle Book singing about “the bare necessities.” Funny enough, while that story is set in India, the pawpaw is actually native to North America. Often called America’s forgotten fruit, pawpaws were once a staple food for Indigenous communities and early settlers, growing throughout the eastern and central United States and even as far north as southern Ontario.
Today, finding one in the wild is rare, but they still linger in quiet river valleys and old‑growth woodlands. Here at Prairie Oaks, we’re lucky to have a few pawpaw trees of our own — and this week, their fruit is finally ready to pick.
Their flavor ranges from banana to mango to vanilla custard depending on the variety. Pawpaws make incredible ice cream, smoothies, and specialty breads (i.e.: swap banana for banana bread with pawpaw), or they can be enjoyed fresh, straight from the tree. It’s a small seasonal joy that reminds us how much abundance still lives in our native landscapes.
