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Papaya

Escape to the tropics with this delicious fruit

Best to buy
Papaya is delicious all summer long. Choose a ripe fruit that is soft, yellow, and free of black spots. Store in the fridge for about a week. Green, unripe papayas may be thinly sliced for salads or cooked like winter squash.

Cut & clean
Rinse under cool water and halve. Remove flesh to use in fruit salads or purée into a thick juice. Quick tip: Papaya skin is not edible but its seeds have a peppery taste and can be crushed or left whole and sprinkled on salads.

Power food
Papaya is an excellent source of vitamin C and a good source of folic acid.

A tropical snack
Halve a ripe papaya, remove the seeds, and scoop out the fruit with a spoon. Eat plain or dip into creamy vanilla yoghurt for a deliciously simple, healthy snack.


Preparation, uses, and tips

Green, or unripe, papayas may be cooked like winter squash. Ripe papayas are terrific eaten plain or with a dollop of yoghurt. Simply halve and remove the seeds; the flesh is tender enough to be scooped out with a spoon. Although papaya skin is not edible, its seeds are. Papaya seeds resemble large peppercorns and also have a peppery taste. They may be crushed and sprinkled on salads in the same way as crushed peppercorns. Left whole, they make an interesting garnish for a fruit salad. Add papaya to fruit salads or purée into a thick juice.

Buying and storing tips

If papayas are picked completely green and firm, they will usually not ripen, but can be used in cooking. Choose fruit that is free of black spots and damage to the skin. The spreading yellow colour indicates the papaya is softening and shows how far along it is in ripening; fruit with a little yellow near the end takes five to seven days to ripen. Ripe yellow papayas may be stored in the refrigerator for about a week. Refrigeration will also slow the ripening process in fruit intended for cooking.

Varieties

There are about 50 varieties of papayas, many of which are inedible and not sold commercially. Some varieties weigh up to 20 pounds (9 kg) while others average 8 ounces (227g). Most common commercial varieties, such as the Hawaiian Solo, are on the small side. Papayas with reddish flesh have a taste that differs from that of the orange-fleshed types, which are sweeter. The babáco, a natural papaya hybrid from Ecuador, is often tinned or made into jam, but is also good eaten fresh.

Nutrition Highlights

Papaya (raw, cubes), 1 cup
Calories: 55
Protein: 0.85g
Carbohydrate: 13.7g
Total Fat: 0.19g
Fiber: 2.5g
*Excellent source of: Vitamin C (86.5mg)
*Good source of: Folate (53.2mcg)

*Foods that are an “excellent source” of a particular nutrient provide 20% or more of the Recommended Daily Value, based upon United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines. Foods that are a “good source” of a particular nutrient provide between 10 and 20% of the USDA Recommended Daily Value. Nutritional information and daily nutritional guidelines may vary in different countries. Please consult the appropriate organization in your country for specific nutritional values and the recommended daily guidelines.