Pawpaw: In Search of America’s Forgotten Fruit by Andrew Moore: A Book Review

Pawpaw: In Search of America’s Forgotten Fruit, by Andrew Moore, is the compelling story of an obscure and neglected national treasure: the pawpaw. America’s largest native fruit, the pawpaw grows in and around Appalachia. The fruit is prized for its subtle vanilla and caramel flavors, and plays host to a variety of animals, including the yellow-billed cuckoo, the zebra swallowtail butterfly and the sphinx moth. And it doesn’t end there- the pawpaw naturally repels pests and possesses cancer-fighting properties.

Decca Records, Burl Ives,“Way Down Yonder in the Pawpaw Patch,” (image from archive.org)

The pawpaw’s deep regional roots have made it the subject of folklore and popular music, including the children’s song "Way Down Yonder in the Pawpaw Patch." The song, a tongue twister put to vinyl by Burl Ives in 1953, asks and answers the whereabouts of little Susie; she’s down in the pawpaw patch picking up pawpaws and putting them in her pockets.

With so many attributes, why has the fruit been, as Moore puts it, forgotten? Moore explains that between the pawpaw’s short harvesting season and limited range, the fruit has never been commercialized. And so while the pawpaw is deeply rooted in American popular culture, it’s nowhere to be found in our supermarkets. Farmers active in the local food movement and regenerative agriculture are striving to domesticate pawpaws, but for now the pawpaw largely remains a forager’s delight. By telling the story of the pawpaw, Moore reminds us of the precious gifts that nature bestows on us, and how we often know little about them even as they contribute to our culture and our well-being. Finally, Pawpaw: In Search of America’s Forgotten Fruit is a call to action; let’s truly see the natural world, understand how it relates to our collective identity, health, and future, and save it while we can.