A delicious fruit that will also settle an upset tum (Papaya)

Member Name: laramax

Product:	Papaya
Date:	15/04/08 (67 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Packed with vitamins and it tastes great

Disadvantages: Quite expensive at around £1 each

I love fruit, all fruit, and one of my favourites is Papaya, otherwise known as Pawpaw. It is becoming more common now in supermarkets and I often treat myself to one. This delicious exotic fruit tastes wonderful on a hot Summer's day, chilled and cut in half like a melon with the seeds scooped out. It has a soft, creamy consistency and is quite sweet but not at all sickly. Personally I much prefer it to a Mango as quite apart from the fact that I prefer the taste of the Papaya, it is so much easier to prepare!

It is grown around the world and has a variety of different names including kapaya, kepaya, lapaya and tapaya in parts of Asia and in Brazil it can be called mamao. The Spanish names for it are melon zapote, lechosam payaya, fruta bombe, mammon or papayo. I have never know a fruit with so many different names. It is believed to be a native plan of tropical America but is now grown all along the equator, they need a tropical climate.

This fruit is not only very tasty and refreshing but it is also claimed to have certain health benefits and quite a few healing properties which makes it doubly attractive from my point of view. If you are buying one you should be aware that as it ripens the fruit skin turns yellow and the flesh softens and turns a deep orangey apricot colour and gives off a delicate aroma. The fruit once ripened is juicy and sweet and the seeds are round, black and shiny sitting in a fibrous mass at the heart of the fruit. To eat I just slice the fruit in two and scoop out the seeds then eat the flesh with a spoon but you could easily take out the flesh and include it in a fruit salad or eat with ice cream. There is an enzyme in the fruit which aids digestion and if you include the seeds in a marinade they will assist in tenderising meat.

Health benefits of Papaya

Papayas are a rich source of vitamins, a single fruit contains more that the required daily allowance of vitamin C, over a quarter of the RDA of folate, a fifth of the RDA of potassium and dietary fibre, 15% of the RDA of Vitamins A & E and about 10% of Vitmain K. All contained in a delicious fruit which has just 118 calories. It is a great addition to your diet if you are trying to eat healthily.

Papain, which comes from the latex of the papaya and its green fruits is used in pharmaceutical digestive aids and there are some studies underway looking at its effects on cancer causing cells and the herpes simplex virus. It is also used to clarify beer, treat wool and silk before dyeing, it is also found in toothpaste, chewing gum and cosmetics.

Papaya is oestrogenic and has been used historically to promote lactation, facilitate childbirth and increase female libido! It has been used in herbal remedies to treat fungal and bacterial skin infections, dandruff , boils, warts and even leprosy.

My own favourite use for it is to settle an upset stomach- it works every time for me and I believe it is far more effective than resorting to most of the commercial remedies on the market. It is certainly worth a try if you have someone in the household with a digestive issue. It is quite delicious, doesn't taste at all like a medicine and above all it works - nature very often has the best remedies we just need to find them.

Do I recommend it?

Yes I do, I love the taste of this fruit. Not only is it delicious it is good for you being packed with vitamins and potassium. I especially like to eat it if I have a stomach upset as I find it very soothing.

If you haven't already tried it then why not look out for one next time you go shopping. Best eaten when the skin is turning a pale yellow but do protect them from bruising as you carry them home - I hope you enjoy them.

Summary: My favourite remedy for an upset stomach and delicious anytime