Papaya.
............
You say Papaya? I say Papaya.
Let's call the whole thing off . . . before someone else calls it Pawpaw.
Over here, it
is called Papaya. However you pronounce it. Dangerous fruit to even
talk about, let put in one's mouth. Of course there are trendy 'Papaya' shacks around (the 'Mango Melba' type) that will give one a Papaya Shake - Iceream, crushed ice, milk, and pureed papaya. Nutmeg to taste. Or a dash of Angostura if you like to feel sophisticated.
What does it taste like? Peach, cantaloupe, honeydew melon - it's all in there.
The texture depends on how ripe it is - and one of the difficulties in sampling this fruit perfectly is slicing it open at the right time; there is a very short window of perfect ripeness - too soon and it's bitter, raw carrot, too late and it's a fermenting mess of fruit alcohol.
BTW - This fruit contains hordes of pectin, as well as a number of other important phytochemicals and is a great detox. Quite often western tourists visiting tropical locales get addicted to eating it but eating too much of it though will make you go orange. Literally.
Let me show you what I do with it. I've already shown the fruit split down it's length before, so to continue - scoop the seeds out and isolate them; they can be extremely slippery and cause a dangerous mess.
The seeds can be dried, ground and used as a substitute pepper according to tradition, but I haven't tried this myself, preferring store-bought pepper.
Using the thick skin as a bowl, I cut slits into the flesh and scoop it out with a spoon - this goes in a container and can be the pulp you use to make your shakes.
I flip the other half over, and peel it - I'm using a variety of knives here; the rounded point sandwich knife was used to make the slits when I was scopping the pulp from the other half, the pointy paring knife is the one used to peel. Or pare.
Use the paring knife to incisively make cubes (for use in fruit cocktails, fruit salads, etc - this sweet mushy fruit is a perfect foil to the sour crunch of apple) Cut the short slits first, then the longitudinal slits.
From left to right: seeds, and some unwanted pulp, cubes, pieces of pulp for shakes, and at the bottom - a wedge cut in a fashion where you can lay it on plate, and spoon it directly into your mouth. Healthy fruit. And as I said before, dangerously addictive.
Pawpaw. *waves.
