Papaya - description
This plant is common in tropical countries as they do not call. And the melon tree, because its fruits are to taste, shape and size similar to a melon, and breadfruit, because when baked on fire, they exude the aroma of freshly baked bread. Cubans in everyday life call it a fruit bomb, because in shape, it reminds them of a shell. Its common name is papaya.
This low tree (5-10m), with a thin smooth trunk and large leaves at the top, gives very tasty and healthy fruits. Despite its graceful dimensions, quite large fruits ripen on the tree, weighing from half a kilogram to two, with a diameter of ten to thirty centimeters, and a length of up to thirty or forty. Often there are fruit giants up to seven kilograms of weight.
Unripe fruits have green peel, which, as it ripens, changes color to bright yellow or red-orange. The collection of papaya for transportation is produced at the stage of technical maturity - when the skin is still green, with only a small yellow blush. On the road, there is ripening fruit.
The homeland of papaya is the territory of Central America, the exciting southern Mexico and northern South America. The plant is so old that its fruits were still served by the ancient Mayan and Aztec tribes. Currently, papaya is grown in many tropical and Asian countries - India, the Philippines, Thailand, Peru, Brazil, China, and Kenya. The largest global exporters are India and Brazil. During cultivation, about a thousand varieties of this plant, differing in size, color and flavor of fruit, were bred.
A peculiarity of this fruit is the content of papain in its pulp, which has the ability to break down hard fibers. Therefore, papaya is added when cooking meat to soften it, and also as a food supplement in the form of powder or tablets that promote digestion and help to absorb heavy and fatty foods. Papain is used in the food industry. It is added to the manufacture of cheeses, used to lighten beer, liqueurs, and added to a young wine, it gives it a noble taste. With advantage use not only fruits, but also leaves of a tree. The local residents of Florida, who add them when they are washing clothes instead of powder, have found interesting applications. Papaya leaves even got the name of “Negro Soap”.
Papaya - useful properties
Ripe papaya fruits are rich sources of fructose, glucose, fiber, beta-carotene, phosphorus, iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium, vitamins E, D, A, C, group B. The previously mentioned papain is very similar in composition to gastric juice Therefore, it can easily digest the proteins, starch and fats that have arrived with food, it cleans the stomach and intestines, dissolving protein residues.
Ripe papaya fruits should be consumed in gastritis, thrombosis, colitis, bronchial asthma, duodenal ulcer, heartburn, pancreatic insufficiency, osteochondrosis. They are recommended to include in the diet for pregnant women, babies, as complementary foods and young children. Papaya quickly restores strength, tones the body, strengthens the immune system, normalizes blood sugar and liver function.
Fresh juice of this fruit is used in the treatment of burns, eczema and other skin diseases. It helps to get rid of the itch when it is bitten by insects, and is also a very effective antihelminthic.
Fresh, milky juice of an immature fruit is poisonous and, if it comes into contact with the skin, may cause an allergic reaction or irritation. As soon as the juice becomes clear, it becomes safe and loses its toxic properties. Unripe green fruits are contraindicated during pregnancy, because lead to contraction of the uterus muscles and can cause miscarriage. Women who live in places where papaya grows use green fruit to get rid of unwanted pregnancies.
Papaya - calorie
Calorie content of 100 g of papaya is 39 kcal.
Papaya - Use in Cooking
Many exotic and interesting dishes are made from this exotic fruit. For example, unripe fruits are added when stewing meat, they make spicy salads, prepare sauces, chutneys, and use them as vegetables. They can also be stuffed with meat or cheese and baked in the oven. Delicious sweet desserts are made from ripe fruits, mashed, fruit salads, pie filling, added to soups, meat, fish, poultry. But most often eaten fresh, cleared of seeds and peel.
In a slurry or papaya juice marinate meat, because they contain special enzymes that can soften the toughest muscle fibers. For the same reason, papaya pieces are added when stewing or roasting meat.
Recipe Examples with Papaya
Recipe 1: Papaya with Shrimps
Delicious, beautiful and exotic dinner. Perfect for a romantic evening with a sequel. Otherwise, it will not work, because in it are solid aphrodisiacs - seafood, juicy ripe fruit and spices, warming the blood.
Ingredients: 1 papaya, 500g shrimp, 2 oranges (juice), 3 cloves of garlic, 2 celery stalks (white stem), olive (or vegetable) oil, fish dressing, salt, black pepper.
Method of preparation
Peel papaya from seeds and peel, cut into medium cubes. From the orange squeeze juice. From the shrimp to separate the tails.
Heat oil, fry papaya cubes for one minute, pour in orange juice, close the lid and simmer for two or three minutes.
Pour some butter into another pan, fry the crushed garlic for a smell, put shrimp tails and fry for five minutes. Add celery stalks, finely chopped, seasoning for fish, pepper and salt and cook for a minute. Mix with papaya.
Serve the shrimp in a portioned ice-cream bowl or in a boat - half of the papaya peel, if you carefully remove the flesh from it.
Recipe 2: Cocktail of ham and papaya
This light and healthy salad with a refreshing taste will delight gourmets. Despite the worthy ingredients in the form of papaya, ham and lettuce, the first fiddle here is played by the original dressing, which consists of lemon juice, sugar, white wine and olive oil. Combined with the other components, it gives the salad a complete, full flavor bouquet. Serve it, as befits a cocktail, better in high transparent wine glasses. Ingredients: 1-2 papayas, 100-150g of low-fat ham, a bunch of lettuce leaves, 1 small Bulgarian pepper (preferably red). For refueling: 4 table.lozh. dry white wine, 1 teal. sugar, black pepper, salt, 3-4 table.lozh. olive oil, 1 table. lie lemon juice.
Method of preparation
Stir all ingredients thoroughly.
Peel papaya, remove pits and chop finely. Salad finely tear hands or cut. Ham and pepper are also finely chopped.
Mix all the ingredients, arrange in portions in glasses and fill with dressing.
Recipe 3: Chicken with Papaya
Papaya is juicy, bright, it can revive absolutely any dish, make it elegant and festive in flavor. The special enzymes that it contains make any tough meat very soft, and even more so the chicken. It turns out to be tender, juicy, slightly sharp and simply incomparable.
Ingredients: 1/2 papaya (300g), 2 chicken breasts (500-600g), 1 onion, olive oil, 1.5 teaspoons. Salt, 1 tea. curry, one or two pinches of hot peppers.
Method of preparation
Cut the meat into medium squares or slices and season it with salt, pepper and curry, let it soak for a while.
Peel papaya from seeds and peel, cut into medium slices, chop onion into half rings.
Heat the oil, fry the onion, add the chicken pieces and fry for another five minutes, until rosy. Put sliced papaya in a frying pan, add some water and simmer for twenty minutes. Serve with boiled rice.
Recipe 4: Papaya Salad
If you got an unripe fruit, you can make a delicious spicy vegetable salad from it. It can be served with meat, chicken or shrimp.
Ingredients: 1 small papaya (300-400g), 1 large carrot, 1 fresh cucumber. For refueling: 1 large clove of garlic, 2 limes (juice), 1 table.lozh. sugar, a bunch of cilantro (parsley), 0.5 tea.lozh. salt, 1 tea lie. black and red pepper. Method of preparation
Peel papaya fruit from seeds and peel, coarsely rub. Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise. If the seeds are large, scrape with a spoon. Carrot peel. Vegetables also grate large. Mix.
Prepare refueling. Chop the garlic, chop the herbs, squeeze the juice out of the lime. Add the remaining ingredients, mix thoroughly and season the vegetables and papaya. Let the salad stand in the cold for about an hour.
Papayas - useful tips from experienced chefs
- On a hot summer day, you can make a great cooling dessert. To do this, beat the papaya pulp with a blender until mashed, add the juice of half a lemon, three tablespoons of honey and soft cheese like Philadelphia. Beat again and put in the freezer to set.
- A ripe fruit should have a smooth, smooth surface, it should be soft to the touch (approximately as we choose a pear), a pleasant sweetish aroma should emanate from the fruit.
