Papayas .. aplenty!!

Papaya plants grow freely in the compound and you come across them wherever you turn. Thankfully most of them are female plants and bear fruits.

Ripe papaya fruits are quite tasty, especially during summer when they tend to be sweeter than during the rainy season and are considered quite nutritious. It is a preferred fruit for those with a complaint of constipation since the fruit is considered to ease bowel movements. I had come across a recipe for making wine out of ripe papayas though I haven’t tried it out as yet. Probably you’ll need to grow papayas as a commercial crop to be able to make any sizeable quantity of wine.

Unfortunately keeping track of the maturing fruits and plucking them when they are ready to ripen is a tedious job especially when the tree is tall, as those growing in the shade tend to be. They get noticed by the squirrels and birds much before us; earth-bound humans.

A spotted Koel having a repast of a ripe Papaya fruit.

Papaya trees growing in the open are normally short and the fruits could be plucked quite easily. However, those that grow in the shade of other trees tend to grow quite tall (in an attempt to get maximum sunlight) and you have to use a long pole to remove the fruits. The trees are not strong enough to be climbed on to. Some of the tall trees find the weight of the fruits too much to bear, break in the middle and come crashing down scattering the fruits all around.

We haven’t as yet found much use for the raw papaya fruits. It is not a preferred vegetable though sometimes we do make use of them in curries as a substitute for Ash gourd, Pumpkin or Cucumber. Grated raw papaya cooked lightly with coconut, onions and garlic after seasoning makes a tasty side dish. I have heard that raw papaya is used for making pickles though I haven’t tried it as yet.