Papaya: nutrition and how to use it

Fun facts

• A papaya plant looks like a tree, but its trunk is hollow and soft, so it counts as a herb. Grown from seed, it can bear fruit in about a year.
• 100g of ripe papaya gives 60.9mg of vitamin C, more than orange (53.2mg), plus 47µg of vitamin A, for only 43 kcal.
• The orange to reddish flesh comes from carotenoids, a pigment family that includes beta-carotene and lycopene. The deeper the color, the riper the fruit.
• The white sap of green papaya contains papain, a protein-cutting enzyme, which is why green papaya is often braised with pork hock to soften it. Ripe papaya is for dessert and smoothies.

Choosing and storing

Pick fruit that is more than half yellow and gives slightly when pressed, with no sunken dark spots or leaking patches. Greenish-yellow fruit will keep ripening at room temperature for a few days. Once ripe, refrigerate and eat within a few days. Cut papaya should be seeded, wrapped tightly and eaten by the next day.

Cooking it well

Eating it fresh keeps the most vitamin C, and a squeeze of lime brightens the flavor. A papaya smoothie made from the whole flesh is sweet enough without condensed milk. Carotenoids in papaya are absorbed better with a little fat, like a few cashews or some yogurt. For the story behind that orange color, read beta-carotene in sweet potato and carrot.

Frequently asked questions