John Myers
You can eat a papaya both raw and cooked. You can cut them open, take out the seeds and then scoop out the flesh with a spoon. Or you can remove the peel with a vegetable peeler, halve the papaya, remove the seeds and cut the flesh into pieces for consumption.
The pulp of the papaya is reminiscent of melon and tastes sweet and refreshing. The fruits contain a lot of water and are quite low in calories. Papayas also have a higher vitamin C content than lemons or oranges. The papain enzyme it contains breaks down protein molecules and is particularly useful when cooking to tenderize tough meat.
You can use the papaya as an ingredient in numerous dishes. It tastes good in curry as well as in salads and desserts. Like melons, papayas combine just as well with savory as with sweet flavors. The exotic fruit also tastes very good as a spicy salad, for example, according to our Som Tam recipe.
By the way, you don’t have to throw away the seeds of the papaya, you can use them as well. Completely remove the pulp from the pips and dry them in the oven at a low temperature for a few hours. Then they can either be chewed pure or used as a spice in the pepper mill. In fact, the aroma of papaya seeds is reminiscent of pepper.
Papayas are now also available pre-ripened, as “ready to eat” or “ready to eat”. This gives you the opportunity to consume the fruit immediately after purchase without having to wait. You can recognize papayas that are ripe for consumption by the soft but still firm flesh of the fruit.
