Papaya (Carica papaya, melon and papaya tree or tree) is a tropical plant, which is counted in the family tree of the melon family (Caricaceae) and supposedly comes from Mexico.
The plant is often mistakenly called a tree because it has a tree-like habit. The papaya is native to the lowland and coastal regions of tropical America, her name from the language of the Arawak Indians. Early in the 16th Century, the Spaniards began thus to cultivate this plant on the West Indies and the Philippines. Today it is cultivated worldwide in the tropics and subtropics. Major production areas are Australia, India and Central and South America (Costa Rica, Brazil, etc.) and Africa (Kenya, Ivory Coast, etc.).
The papaya is a powerful, usually unbranched, upright tree-like plant. The single "master", which - apart from the trachea - not lignified, growth reached heights of five to ten meters. Due to the lack of lignification, growth form and longevity can be described either as the papaya tree, nor a shrub or bush. The latest literature speaks of a "tree-like herb [2]. The leaves are arranged spirally around the trunk and are continuously after a certain time (ie not seasonal) dropped so that the trunk is bare bottom and top of a "hands" forms of leaves. At the root leaf scars remain preserved. The large leaves have a diameter of 50 to 70 cm, they are stalked and deeply lobed (seven lobes). On the whole tribe (cauliflory), in the leaf axils, flowers are formed and then the fruit.
The fruit is oblong-oval about 15 to 45 cm in longitudinal section and 10 to 30 cm in diameter in size and can reach a weight kg 3 to 6 In Europe, almost exclusively the Brazilian or Hawaiian papaya in the trade, get their copies, only 0.5 kg. The shell of the fully mature berries [3] is yellowish-green, the flesh is light orange to pink and contains black seeds in the fruit center, surrounded by a membrane. The Seeds of the papaya contain large amounts of papain, a proteolytic enzyme. They were formerly used in folk medicine as anthelmintics and now in powder form as a tenderizer for meat. A similar effect is achieved when wrapping raw meat in the leaves of the papaya tree, or in fresh papaya juice (also applies to fresh pineapple juice) lodges.
use in the kitchen
unripe fruits can be processed such as vegetables and for including chutneys, curries, salsas and used. In northeastern Thailand, the Isaan and Laos is a (very) spicy salad of unripe fruits marinated in fish sauce, shrimp and sticky rice, the national dish.
The ripe fruit pulp on the other hand tastes pleasantly sweet, with a little lemon juice and sugar and ginger, the flavor intensified. The seeds of papaya are edible, they have a sharp taste that is reminiscent of nasturtium.
The fruit must purchase yellow stripes or spots, then they ripen even after nor complete. In other words, it has not yet begun to mature (= completely green), then it matures and is not green. It should therefore be taken when buying strictly on the maturity. This can be seen in the color (yellow or red, not green) and especially on the strength: the easier it is the fruit press with your finger, more mature. The fruit is never "overdue" (except when it begins to ferment), extremely soft copies are characterized by a particularly intense and sweet flavors and only use as a decorative design may be complicated by the lack of strength. But it is the way most suitable because it oxidizes in the air barely.
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