This text is part of the special Pleasures notebook
Is it a mango? A banana? No, it’s asimine, a fruit (slightly) better known as pawpaw. This fruit with tropical flavors grows in the northern climate of Quebec and is growing in popularity among curious people and gourmets.
In size and color, the pawpaw resembles a mango. Its taste varies depending on the cultivar, sometimes similar to that of banana, pineapple, or even cantaloupe or vanilla, explains Vincent Renaud. In 2021, he founded the Facebook group Pawpaw (three-lobed asiminiere) from Quebec and other northern regionsswhich had nearly 16,000 members at the time of writing. “It’s really a fruit with very tropical flavors even though it’s native to the northeast of America,” summarizes the man who discovered asimine in 2019.
Aboriginal people would have cultivated it before the arrival of settlers in southern Ontario. In the United States, former President Thomas Jefferson even grew it in his garden in Monticello, Virginia. One of the reasons which could explain the absence of asimine on the plates of Quebecers is the arrival of the banana in North America in the second half of the 19th century.e century. The pawpaw was also nicknamed the “poor man’s banana” because it cost less.
History does not say whether asimine was already found in the Belle Province, but more and more Quebecers are today trying to cultivate it or, at the very least, to taste it and cook it. It was while interested in the local flora that Lysanne O’Bomsawin, chef at Traiteur Québénakis, discovered this fruit. “Given that it is a plant that is generally found closer to waterways, I would tend to think that we just got rid of it at the start of colonization,” she puts forward as a hypothesis. .
The one who finds that asimine has the same flavor as “Tropicana strawberry banana juice” has already incorporated it into some of her creations, notably in a crème brûlée, by sourcing from pickers in Ontario. “For people to appreciate the taste of pawpaw more, you have to mix it with a dairy product, and that gives a pretty phenomenal result, in all ice cream or crème brûlée recipes. We could also make a milkshake made from pawpaw,” she suggests.
The growing popularity of this fruit also contributes to the process of reconciliation and healing among Indigenous people, believes Lysanne O’Bomsawin, who herself comes from the Abenaki community of Odanak. “It allows us to reconnect. And it also allows people around to have a better understanding of their environment. It really benefits everyone,” she pleads.
Patience to collect some!
Those who dream of seeing pawpaw on supermarket shelves will have to show perseverance. To date, this fruit is only grown in Quebec by individuals in their gardens. “Most of the most populous regions in Quebec include areas where they can be grown,” explains Vincent Renaud.
The main obstacle to its large-scale commercialization remains its short shelf life, once it has reached maturity. “The fruit only keeps for a few days, even refrigerated. We cannot therefore store it to have it all year round, but only during the harvest period,” explains Marie-Claude Carbonneau, professor at the Institut de Technologie Agroalimentaire du Québec (ITAQ).
Asiminieres also take several years before producing their first fruits. “And as with any emerging crop, you have to make sure to plant a lot of varieties to see what is good,” adds the woman who teaches at the La Pocatière campus.
The pawpaw has also not been the subject of a study on the production capacities of the asiminiere on Quebec soil, unlike in the state of Kentucky, where a university has devoted a complete research program to it. “But since they are in the southern United States, for Quebec, the results do not apply,” she specifies.
Growing popularity
In Quebec, many curious people are already growing asiminieres in their garden. This is particularly the case of Zacharie Roy, who had “instant love at first sight” for the fruit that he tasted for the first time in 2021 at the nut grower and mycologist Yvan Perreault.
Two years later, the 24-year-old young man decided to start cultivating asiminieres full-time on the land of the ecovillage where he lives, in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.
Every summer, he goes to the United States to look for pawpaws. From the end of August to mid-October, he sells them with the seedlings he grew during tastings organized across the province. The young farmer explains that the harvest occurs earlier in our neighbors to the South, while in Quebec, the asimines are only ready in the fall.
Last year, he held a dozen public events. “It was a great success,” he rejoices. And this, even if Canadian production still remains low compared to growing demand, notes Zacharie Roy, who also supplies fruit to several establishments, including L’Épicurien and Le Clan in Quebec.
Restaurant owners are not the only ones wanting to incorporate pawpaw into their dishes. In 2018, Avant-Garde Artisans Brasseurs had already distributed its Pawpaw you’re dead and is preparing a second recipe using the same fruit, but the marketing date has not yet been determined. For its part, the La Fosse brewery in Donnacona, in the National Capital, has created a first vintage of beer named after the fruit. The result is a saison type beer having spent six months in chardonnay barrels. “There was so much enthusiasm that it is certain that we will do it again,” predicts Miguel Mottard, co-owner of the La Fosse brewery.
This content was produced by the Special Publications team at Dutyrelating to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part.