Native Food of the Week - Pawpaw Matcha Bread

Native Lands Restoration Collaborative interns are digging deep to learn more about native plants and share their experiences with our community! Our Nourishing Communities intern, Anne, has been studying native edible plants, how to identify, collect, and prepare food from them with our experienced staff. She'll be sharing recipes featuring native foods with all of you here, on the Nature Gang blog! Today's focal species is pawpaw (Asimina triloba):

Pawpaw is a fruit native to a large portion of mid-America. It grows on trees and , in my experience, is one of the most beloved plants in native food communities. To me, it tastes like a mango-banana-orange in the best way possible. I’ve only ever worked with it from frozen, but it’s supposed to be best fresh. In my research, I found that pawpaw was historically expected to be a popular food source but because of commercialization of other fruits it was kind of a no-go (1). I also read that pawpaw trees can be common in modern forests because they help with fire prevention (3) . All in all, pawpaw is such a cool ingredient! It has historical significance, cultural importance, and is super nutritious.  

Recipe: Matcha and Pawpaw Bread 

When working with pawpaw again, I wanted to combine it with another flavor which interested me. I often enjoy a classic marble loaf and I’ve seen some people make matcha loaves, so I thought a pawpaw matcha loaf would be cool to try. The difficulty is in that there is no distinct recipe for a marble of anything similar to that (that I was able to find). I used The Joy Of Cooking and used the measurements for banana and pumpkin breads as a vague blueprint. As my pawpaw puree was neither the texture of a crushed banana nor pumpkin puree, I had to kind of guess. But, I’m very happy with the final result. 

Ingredients: 

Pawpaw batter- 

1 ½ cups pureed pawpaw 

1 egg 

½ cup canola oil 

¼ cup white granulated sugar 

1 ¼ cups flour 

1 tsp baking soda 

½ tsp salt 

Matcha batter- 

½ cup lukewarm milk 

3 tablespoons sweetened instant matcha mix 

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup flour 

1 tsp baking soda 

Glaze- 

¼ cup pureed pawpaw 

½ cup milk 

¼ cup powdered sugar 

Here’s how I made it: 

I first made the pawpaw batter. I started with mixing my wet ingredients (puree, egg and oil) as well as my sugar. 

I then mixed in the flour, baking soda, and salt. The ratio of flour you use should be dependent on how your pawpaw is texturally. For instance, if you were to use a fresh pawpaw it might be less juicy than my frozen fruit and therefore need less flour. As long as you can get both batters to be similar consistencies, it should work out fine. 

After I combined the wet and dry ingredients, I put the first batter to the side and moved onto the matcha. My first step was to prepare the instant matcha like a latte. I used a milk frother to ensure the matcha was well combined into my milk. Then, I added the vanilla extract. 

To mix in my egg turned out to be a challenge and I had to bring out a whisk! I think my egg was too cold and the yolk had a hard time separating. But, all is well and I added my flour and ended with a luscious green batter. At this stage, I was getting super excited for the final result. 

After both batters were finished, it was time to assemble in a bread pan. I alternated between ¼ cup scoops of each mixture, beginning with a base layer of three big pawpaw scoops and then starting the alternating. The goal was to create large enough scoops as to not mix the batters, but still allow some of both in a slice of bread. I had to tilt the pan every-which-way and pat it on the counter a few times to get the better smoothly around the edges, hopefully removing air bubbles as I went. 

I baked the bread in the oven for 50 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. I let it cool for around half an hour. I hat to pat the butt of the pan for a few minutes before the loaf came out, but it was smooth around the edges with no breakage. I recommend buttering or oiling the pan beforehand. 

After we tried a piece plain, my sister and I decided the loaf needed a glaze. It was nice for pairing with a cup of coffee or with some jam on top, but we were going more for a dessert loaf. We used the residual pawpaw puree and mixed it with milk and powdered sugar. We wanted it thin enough to drip down the sides, but thick enough that it doesn’t melt off completely. Like the flour, this glaze is kind of based on the consistency of your pawpaw as well as the temperature of your loaf. If your bread is all the way cooled, you might prefer a runnier glaze. 

Overall, my family and I loved this. I prefer it over my original pawpaw pie. It combines two flavors I love and they work well together. Safe to say this will be breakfast and desert for the rest of the week. 

References:

1. https://gastropod.com/pick-a-pawpaw-americas-forgotten-fruit/

2. Pawpaw-description-and-nutritional-information.php 

3. pawpaw.htm