Recipe by Jen Langdon, Introduction by Richard Stewart

How do you explain a pawpaw to someone who has never seen or had one? Its fruit is from a deciduous tree. In its unripe state, it hangs from a stem and looks like a pale to bright green potato. As it ripens, it goes through several color changes from yellow, to light brown, to black, much like a banana. The pawpaw is native to a large part of the Eastern United States. It has many nick names including: the Indiana Banana, the American Custard Apple, the Quaker Delight, and the Hillbilly Mango. The pawpaw has been around since before the first Native Americans migrated across the continent. It has become hip lately, but here in Ohio it has always been a part of our culture and is Ohio's official state native fruit.

Its flavor is often described as a cross between a banana and mango. We argue (well some of us here at Carriage House Farm) that it is more on the banana side of flavor and most flavorful, like bananas, when it is at its ugliest as it nears being over ripe. Many people simply eat them as they hike and some use them in ice cream. Some talented brewers are able to add it into a secondary fermentation in a back-flavoring process seen in saison, farm house beers, and even porters. It is often used in baking, but its light, rich fruitiness can be lost in the process if the cook, baker, or brewer is not careful. At Carriage House Farm we make a jam from the fruit. The following sweet treat recipe makes use of the jam in a delightful bar.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 oz) all-purpose flour
2/3 cup (4 2/3 oz) granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
18 Tbsp softened butter, cut into 1/2" pieces
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup nuts, chopped fine (we used pecans)
1 half-pint jar of Pawpaw jam

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375º, with rack in the middle position. Grease a 13 x 9 pan liberally (filling will really stick, be sure to get into all the corners).

Combine flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of food processor or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add 16 Tbsp butter to flour mixture and combine until mixture resembles damp sand, about 20 pulses of the food processor or 1-1.5 minutes in the stand mixer.

Measure out 1 1/4 cups of flour mixture into a medium bowl and set aside. Press remaining mixture evenly into the bottom of prepared pan with the bottom of a smooth glass or measuring cup. Bake until edges begin to brown, 14-18 minutes.

Make the crumble - add brown sugar, oats, and nuts to reserved flour mixture. Cut in remaining 2 Tbsp butter with your hands until butter in incorporated. Press handfuls of the mixture together to create varying crumble-size clumps.

Spread Pawpaw jam evenly over hot crust. Sprinkle crumbles over jam. Bake until topping is golden, 22-25 minutes.

Let cool until filling sets. Cut into squares and serve.

(This is an adaptation of the Cooks Illustrated Raspberry Streusel Bars recipe.)