Papaya
I fell in love with the Papaya on my travels thru South America. I guess I am not alone. It is said that Christopher Columbus described the papaya as the “fruit of angels”.
The Papaya fruit is found thru out Central and South America as well as the Caribbean. The fruit will either be round or long pear shape.
If you are looking for a healthy fruit, look no farther than the Papaya. High in Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Dietary Fiber, Potassium and Folate. Even with a sweet buttery texture they make for a ideal fruit for maintaining your health as well as weight loss.
I enjoyed the Papaya so much that I planted my own Papaya tree in the spring of 2006. At the time of planting the tree was about 2 1/2 feet tall. As of this writing in the fall of 2007 the tree has grown to about 12 feet. I started harvesting the first fruits in October 2007. At this time the tree has about 50 fruit growing on the tree and I have been picking 2 to 3 fruits a week. The fruit is picked when I see the first hint of yellow or orange on the outer skin. I will then place it on the countertop in the kitchen and in about 2 to 3 days the fruit will ripen to a dark yellow or light orange color. With the color change and a little pressure on the skin one is able to tell that the Papaya is ready to eat. To prepare the Papaya for eating, first you slice the fruit open. Inside you will find black seeds, you will scoop these out. Next depending on the dish or use of the Papaya you can either scoop out the meat or orange part of the papaya, or another way will be to slice the fruit and remove from the outer skin.
For those of you that do not have your own Papaya tree, you can find papaya in almost any supermarket year round. I have found that the Papayas are a little more expensive in the supermarket and the best prices I have found is at Costco , Chinese and Latin fruit stands
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