The North American pawpaw [Asimina triloba (L.) Dunal] is a native tree-fruit that is in the early stages of commercial production in the United States. Pawpaw fruit have fresh market appeal for farmers markets, community supported agriculture, and organic markets, as well as processing potential for frozen pulp production. For the processing market, fruit with a large size of over 120 grams and less than 6 percent seed by weight, are desirable for processing for pulp recovery for value-added products such as hot sauce. Kentucky State University has already released three pawpaw cultivars, KSU-AtwoodTM in 2009, KSU-BensonTM in 2016, and KSU-ChappellTM in 2018. However, new high yielding cultivars with excellent fruit quality would further assist in the development of the pawpaw industry. The objective of this study was to determine the fruit quality of 16 pawpaw cultivars and advanced selections. Fruit weight, percent seed, and brix were determined for the cultivars and advanced selections grown at the Kentucky State University Research and Demonstration Farm in Frankfort, Kentucky. The cultivars and advanced selections evaluated were A3-1, A6-1, KSU-AtwoodTM, KSU-BensonTM, KSU-ChappellTM, G4-25, G6-120, G9-109, Hi 1-4, Hi 7-1, Hy3-120, NRVT 3-10, NRVT 3-4, Sunflower, Susquehanna, and Tallahatchie. Average fruit weight ranged from Tallahatchie at 138g to A-6-1 at 277g per fruit. A number of advanced selections had large fruit size and these included A6-1 (277g), Hy3-120 (258g), A3-1 (216g), Hi1-4 (214g), NRVT3-4 (208g), Hi7-1 (202g) and G9-109 (201g). Average percent seed for fruit ranged from G6-120 at 8.2 percent seed to the cultivar KSU-ChappellTM at 4.5 percent seed. A number of advanced selections had low percent seed and these included A6-1 (4.7%) and G4-25 (5.8%). Average percent Brix for fruit ranged from NRVT 3-10 at 19.8 Brix to the cultivar KSU-ChappellTM at 28.2 Brix. Many of these advanced selections show promise as potential new cultivars. Examples of hot sauce made from pawpaw pulp extracted from cultivars will be discussed.
