American Pawpaw Pudding
🍮 American Pawpaw Pudding: A Cozy, Custard-Style Native Dessert
This American pawpaw pudding is soft, earthy, and comforting — a true heritage dessert with roots in the American Midwest and Appalachia. Baked like a custardy spice cake, this recipe turns ripe pawpaw pulp into something warm, rich, and deeply satisfying.
At Dee’s Nutz and Berries in Brodhead, WI, we’re currently cultivating over 1,000 pawpaw trees (Asimina triloba) and anticipate opening to the public in 2028. While we wait for our orchard to mature, we’re celebrating this remarkable native fruit with time-honored recipes passed down across generations.
To learn more about this unique fruit, visit our American Pawpaw page. You’ll find harvest timing, growing tips, and updates on when you can try fresh Pawpaws straight from our farm.
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American Pawpaw Pudding Recipe
🍽️ Ingredients for American Pawpaw Pudding
his recipe works best with fully ripe, strained pawpaw pulp and classic pantry spices. It’s naturally soft and lightly spiced — like banana bread and custard combined.
- 1 cup pawpaw pulp (fully ripe and strained)
- 2 large eggs
- 1½ cups whole milk
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp melted butter
👩🍳 How to Make Pawpaw Pudding
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×9″ baking dish or cast iron pan.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the pawpaw pulp, eggs, milk, vanilla, and melted butter.
- In a second bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and spices.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and stir until just blended.
- Pour the batter into your baking dish and bake for 45–50 minutes, or until set in the center.
- Let cool slightly before serving. This pudding is delicious warm or chilled.
🍁 From the Orchard Tip
- Be sure to use only fully ripe pawpaws. The pulp should be soft, sweet, and fragrant. Unripe fruit can be bitter or astringent.
- The pudding should have a custard-like texture, not cake-like. It’s meant to be moist and spoonable.
- You can add chopped black walnuts or a drizzle of maple syrup for an extra rustic finish.
- For a deeper dive into the science and history of this fruit, we recommend Kentucky State University’s Pawpaw Research Program.
More to Savor from the Orchard
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