Papaya Project

There are several varieties of papaya available. To me, the redder the flesh the more anise flavor while the orange or yellow flesh seems to be muskier. We used different varieties interchangeably for the papaya project.

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Najia and I decided to make an entire meal centered around papaya and test it on our best guys. Papaya is one of the most ubiquitous and inexpensive local fruits our fair island has to offer. Serendipitously, it is also very good for you. The nutrients in papaya promote the health of the cardiovascular system and also provide protection against colon cancer. In addition, papaya contains the digestive enzyme, papain, which is often extracted from papaya for use in meat tenderizers. The presence of this enzyme means that, not only is papaya a great meat tenderizer, it is also a good accompaniment to meat as it helps your body break down the proteins. OK enough about healthy eating; lets get to the results.


The Menu
Papaya and Coconut milk smoothie (with rum added of course)
Papaya Bruschetta w/ Goat Cheese 

Thai Green Papaya Salad

Papaya-Marinated Steak with Papaya glaze and salsa

Although we happened to hit quite a few dud recipes, there were some gems as well. The smoothie was tasty and rather rich and would make a great breakfast in itself (rum optional). The bruschetta was outstanding and would also work well as a salsa. The green papaya salad was very good, though upon tasting Spicy Thai's salad, could use some tweaking. I will definitely try it again. The salsa was rather disappointing as it was dry and carroty. Thanks, but no thanks, Martha Stewart. The steak was O.K. tasting, but it certainly was tender. Perhaps better cuts of meat would have made a difference. The glaze added a nice sweetness, but didn't add much else. So, here are the dishes that did work.


    Papaya as Tenderizer

Shredding papaya into a pitcher for the tenderizing marinade.

Shredded Papaya

Recipe adapted from BBQ Backyard.com

Ingredients:

One green or some-what ripe papaya. It is easier and more effective if the papaya is still rather firm and unripe.

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup kosher salt

1 gallon water

Directions:

Seed the fruit.

Grate it.

Mix the sugar, salt and water to make a brine. (If using less water, keep the ratio 2:1, sugar to salt)

Put the papaya and meat in a large pitcher. This fits better in the frig. Cover with brine. 

Leave the marinate out if it will be cooked in 3 hours. Otherwise, refrigerate after leaving it out for 3 hours. 

Note: As this tenderizer is very effective, do not use it on chicken unless you want chicken porridge. Also, if marinating pork, reduce the marinate time significantly.

The very tender, resulting steak.

Papaya Bruschetta

Papaya bruschetta served with goat cheese on toasted baguette

Recipe from Allrecipes.com

Frankly, I was surprised at how good this was. It was well-received by all. 

Ingredients:

• 1 papaya
• 5 roma (plum) tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
•  
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1 French baguette, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Special Equipment:

Food processor or blender

Directions

1. Cut papaya in half and remove seeds. Reserve 2 tablespoons of seeds for the dressing. Peel and dice the papaya, and place in a medium bowl. Add tomatoes, red onion, red pepper and basil, and set aside.
2. In a food processor or blender, combine the papaya seeds, sugar, wine vinegar, oil, mustard and green onions. Process until smooth and thick, and most of the seeds have broken up. Pour over the papaya mixture and stir to coat all of the ingredients. Serve with slices of baguette.

Note: We added goat cheese, but I think any soft cheese would work. This also goes great with plain tortilla chips.

Thai Green Papaya Salad (Som Tam)

Recipe from food.com
Ingredients:

• About 1lb julienned really green unripe papayas
• 3 tomatoes, wedged
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon dried shrimp, fried with little oil
• 8 fresh birds eye chiles, sliced
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar or 1 tablespoon palm sugar
• 1 tablespoon roasted peanuts, pounded coarsely
• 1 tablespoon roasted cashew nuts (optional)
• fresh long beans, cut into 2 inch (we used green beans)
• cabbage, shredded

Directions:

Pound garlic until fine. Add garlic, lime juice, fish sauce,brown sugar in a bowl. Mix well. Add papaya, tomato wedges and chili into a big mixing bowl. Stir in the garlic mixture into papaya bowl. Adjust seasoning if necessary. It should be a mixture of sweet, sour and salty. Toss in dried shrimp, ground peanut and cashew nut. Served with long beans, cabbage or other raw vegetables.

I will try making this again and let you all know how it goes.


Papaya and Coconut Milk Smoothie

Ingredients: 1 ripe papaya
6 tablespoons coconut milk
5 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon grated lime peel (optional)
4 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup finely crushed ice

Add rum or other alcohol to taste (optional)

Directions: 

1. Peel the papaya, cut it in half, remove the black seeds, and chop the fruit coarsely.
2. Combine the papaya, coconut milk, lime juice and peel, sugar, vanilla, and ice in an electric mixer blender. Blend at high speed until mixture is smooth and thick.
3. Serve in chilled tumbler.


Note: Instead of using ice, you could probably use frozen papaya.





We drank ours too fast to take a picture. This is a close approximation of what it looked like.

Other Papaya Uses:


Face Mask

The fruit enzymes found in papayas are know to aid and accelerate healing in skin disorders such as acne. In addition, the fruit enzymes gently exfoliate the skin. Papaya, I think I love you.

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh pineapple

1/2 cup fresh papaya

1 tablespoon honey

Directions:

1. Purée the fruit in a blender or food processor.
2. Add honey and blend until the mixture makes a smooth paste.
3. Apply mask to clean skin on your face and neck. Gently steaming your pores open before applying the mask will increase the benefits of it.
4. Leave mask on for 15 to 20 minutes. Recline and relax.
5. Rinse face and neck with warm water.

Healthy Snack

I love fresh papaya with greek yogurt (when I can find it at Costco) and honey. It is great to eat as a digestive after a meal.


Green Papaya Pickles recipe by Joe Pangalinan of Yigo, Guam

Ingredients:

1 medium papaya on the verge of ripening

1 cup distilled white vinegar

1 cup water

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 or 3 "boonie" peppers (optional)

Directions:

Peel the papaya, cut in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Slice the papaya lengthwise into sticks. Place papaya sticks upright in a sterilized mason jar. This is done by boiling the jar in water for 10 minutes. Add sugar, salt, pepper and boonie peppers, if using. Fill the jar with an equal mixture of vinegar to water to cover the papaya.

Cover the jar tightly with lid and store in the refrigerator for one week, shaking the jar regularly. You may also can the papaya to preserve it for up to one year. Canning is actually one of the easiest things to do. All you need is a sterile mason jar with a two-part lid, a large pot, water and tongs. 

Canning:

Fill your jar with whatever you want to can, leaving about 1/2 inch at the top. Put lid on and tighten the band securely. Lower the jar(s) into boiling water, making sure the water covers the jar by about 1 inch. Boil the jar(s) for about 10 minutes. Remove the jar from the water and allow to cool on kitchen towel. At some point, you should here a sucking sound followed by a pop. This is the air leaving the jar. After the jar has cooled, press on the lid.  It should not move up and down. If it does move, the jar has not been canned properly and must be refrigerated and eaten soon. If the jar lid does not move, Congratulations! You have food that will be fresh for a year or longer. Good work.