Papaya
Grown in nearly all tropical and subtropical regions all around the world. Like bananas, papayas are botanically large herbs growing to 9 m with a hollow green stem and long-stalked leaves. The fruit range from a deep orange to a pale green colour with soft, silky and juicy, yellow or pinky flesh that surrounds a cavity of shiny black, gray seeds which are edible but are usually discarded. Ripe papayas are most commonly eaten fresh, merely peeled, seeded, cut into wedges, and served with a piece of lime or lemon.They are also added to salads and fruit salads, used in salad dressings, pureed for sauces and made into jams and chutneys.
Green papayas can be cooked similarly to zucchini or marrow and served as a vegetable or added to curries. In Thai cuisine, fresh green papaya is finely shredded to make the popular som tom or green papaya salad.
The fruit and the leaves, especially the green ones, contain papain, a natural enzyme that aids the digestion of proteins. It is collected by scratching the skin of green papaya and catching the milky latex, which is then used diluted in a marinade or with water to tenderize tough cuts of meat. Tough meat is often wrapped in papaya leaves or a little of the “latex” from the fruit, leaves or stems drizzled over it before cooking.
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