Papaya is one of the most classic exotic fruits, present in the exotic fruit department or as an ingredient in tropical fruit juices.
The shape and size can vary, the color of the skin is green at the beginning and changes towards yellow during ripening; brown spots indicate excessive ripening and a consequent alteration of taste.
The pulp is pink, sometimes tending to apricot orange, fleshy, easy to cut with both a knife and a spoon.
Inside the fruit, in a central empty space, we find the seeds, small black, translucent, shiny spherules, in variable numbers.
How to eat papaya?
Once we have the fruit in our hands, we have many options for consuming it. There peel is easy to remove and pulp can be eaten sliced ​​like a melon, or in spoonfuls, as if it were a watermelon, or smoothie or reduced to cubes and made fruit salad together with other fruit.
But let's study some combinations. You know the famous combination Ham and melon? You will be amazed to find the exact same combination with the in tropical countries papaya to replace melon, all seasoned with a drizzle of lime juice.
Also from the tropics comes one salad particular, capable of satisfying and delighting at the same time: papaya, avocado and acini d'uva; tasty because of the papaya, it fills the belly thanks to the beautiful ripe avocado, it goes down pleasantly thanks to the grapes.
If we are on the road how will we manage? Don't worry, just try it dehydrated papaya, easy to carry and not dirty, also excellent from add to risottor to give a sweet base.
Do you want a quick and original dessert? Here you are served thanks to the papaya: prepare one sweet syrup boiling sugar with cinnamon in water and lemon juice; add some polpa di papaya when everything is ready and serve hot.
Wondering how papaya is tasted in Colombia? Why not? A special salad of grilled papaya, black beans, chicken or fish, and fried plantain chips… Easy to do even in the country, topped with a drizzle of coconut oil will leave you speechless.
Another combinationand typical South American which includes papaya and fish, is therepapaya, tuna and shrimp salad, seasoned with pepper, chilli, lime and salt, sometimes served in a papaya half used as a bowl.
What to do with a papaya sour? Thai cuisine comes to meet us, showing us how to peel it, reduce it to julienne and add it to salads or cooked like a vegetable in noodles.
Let's finish this roundup with one of the shakes more classic and loved: papaya, strawberries and banana.
Obviously this paragraph cannot exhaust the topic: papaya is consumed in infinite ways around the world.
Fermented papaya, the natural source of antioxidants
What do you eat of papaya?
Is the pulp the only edible part of papaya? Certainly not, the pulp it contains fiber, carbohydrates, water, vitamins and many active ingredients, however these are concentrated more in the semi and in leaves of the papaya plant.
About the semi, we know that, if not abused, they they help the digestive system very well, especially thanks to the papain. Two precautionary lines: due to the concentration of the aforementioned active ingredients, especially the typical enzymes contained in papaya seeds, it is good avoid consuming them during pregnancy (can induce abortion), in case of ulcer stomach or drug therapies, so as to avoid unwanted chemical interactions.
First of all it is good to start consuming papaya seeds in small doses, in order to check for any intolerances. It must be said right away that the taste of the seeds is not the most pleasant, unlike the pulp which is sweet and delicate, the seeds are bitter and intense; a widespread practice used to improve digestive abilities is to consume daily a spoonful of papaya seeds and honey.
Even the leaves, preferably fresh, are an important green remedy for stomach and intestinal problems: the infusions of these leaves give a pleasant taste to the water, vaguely reminiscent of the mucilage of mallow, ocher, or pulp of the banana tree.
Read also
> The 1000 properties of papaya
> Green papaya, mango and banana: the recipes
