Recipe for success: Pickin' up paw-paws

We used to sing a song in grade school that went a little something like this:
Pickin' up paw-paws, put them in a basket,
Pickin' up paw-paws, put them in a basket,
Pickin' up paw-paws, put them in a basket,
Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch*.
And yes, the melody is as easy to remember as the lyrics.



Until two weeks ago I didn't really give paw-paws much thought - I honestly didn't really think anything called a paw-paw existed or thought it was a country bumpkin term for 'apple'. Well, it turns out a paw-paw is real and is wildly exotic for Midwestern fruit, but it ain't very pretty. The reason this all came about is my sister, Alyse, and her co-workers collected paw-paws south of St. Louis and she brought a few of them over for (my soon-to-be world famous) paw-paw ice cream. I was going to devise a recipe on my own, but decided to first run a quick search online to see what was out there - surprisingly, recipes exist. The following recipe I halved from a recipe found here.

1. Assemble the ingredients:
   

   2 c. cold milk 3 eggs 1/4 tsp. salt 3/4 c. sugar

   puree of 3 to 4 paw-paws juice of 1/2 lemon 2 c. heavy cream 1 Tbsp. vanilla

   
   
2. To make the puree: peel and cut up 3 to 4 paw-paws and blend in a blender or food processor. The paw-paw fruit contains seeds, so be sure to cut all those out before blending.
   
3. Scald 1.5 cups of the milk in a double boiler.
   
4. Beat the eggs well then add the salt, sugar and remaining 1/2 cup of milk.


5. Slowly add the hot milk to the egg mixture and mix well. It is key to add the hot milk slowly and in small batches so the eggs don't turn into scrambled eggs. Once the the milk is completely mixed with the eggs return to the top pan of the double boiler.
   
6. Heat the mixture and whisk until the mix thickens into a custard. It should coat a spoon so you can draw a line across the back of the spoon.
   
7. Strain the mixture.
   
8. Let cool and then put in the refrigerator and cool completely.
   
9. Combine the puree and lemon juice. Add it, the heavy cream and vanilla to the custard mix. This is the complete ice cream mixture - this can be made in advance and kept in the fridge.
   
10. Put in the ice cream maker and make some ice cream.

*The way I sang this song was more like: Pickin' up paw-paws, puttin' em a basket, etc. A little more country bumpkin and a whole lot more authentic.