Ingredient

Papaya

A ripe papaya is soft, orange-fleshed, sweet and faintly musky, and a significant number of people find that muskiness off-putting. Lime fixes it almost entirely, which is why papaya is served with a wedge of lime nearly everywhere it is grown.

The smell, and the lime

Ripe papaya contains sulphur-bearing compounds that read as musky, or to some people as faintly like vomit — the perception varies genuinely between individuals rather than between fruits. It is more pronounced in overripe fruit and in some varieties than others.

Acid suppresses it very effectively. A generous squeeze of lime over papaya is not decoration; it is the standard and necessary correction, and it turns a fruit some people dislike into one most people enjoy.

Small red-fleshed varieties such as Solo and Sunrise are generally sweeter and less musky than the large yellow-fleshed ones.

Ripe and green, and what each is for

Ripe

Skin turning from green to yellow or orange, soft to gentle pressure, flesh deep orange or salmon. Eaten raw, with lime.

Green

Firm, entirely green skin, white flesh, white undeveloped seeds. Treated as a vegetable and shredded raw or cooked.

Papain

A protein-digesting enzyme, most concentrated in the unripe fruit and the latex. It tenderises meat and prevents gelatine setting.

The seeds

Edible, peppery and slightly bitter, closer to a mild mustard than to a fruit seed. Usually discarded and worth keeping.

Ripening

Climacteric and quick. A green-skinned fruit will yellow at room temperature within a few days.

What to do with it

• Halved, seeded, with lime, which is how it is eaten across the tropics and is hard to improve on.
• In a fruit salad, dressed with lime and mint, added last because papain softens everything around it.
• Green papaya salad — som tam in Thailand, and closely related dishes across Southeast Asia. Shredded, pounded with garlic, chilli, lime, fish sauce and peanuts.
• Green papaya cooked in a curry or a stew, where it behaves rather like a marrow.
• The seeds, dried and ground, used as a peppery seasoning or blitzed into a dressing.
• In a meat marinade, using green papaya or the seeds, which tenderises effectively and quickly.
• Blitzed into a smoothie with lime and ginger.

Preparing one

1. Cut in half lengthways.
2. Scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Keep them if you want to use them; rinse and dry them on a tray.
3. Peel with a vegetable peeler if you are cubing it, or serve halves and eat with a spoon.
4. For green papaya, peel first, then shred on a mandoline or with a julienne peeler. Wear gloves if you have sensitive skin — the latex in unripe fruit can irritate.
5. Soak shredded green papaya in iced water for ten minutes to crisp it before dressing.

Common questions