Papaya

Jordan and I are becoming more adventurous lately. So yesterday while we were shopping at Sam’s, we decided we wanted to try a papaya. The papaya is the fruit of the plant Carica papaya. It is native to the tropics of the Americas, and was cultivated in Mexico. It is often called a "paw paw" or a "big melon". Well, that was all and good, but we had no idea how to choose a ripe one!! So we asked my Dad, who happens to know everything! He said, “Yellow the better!” So we selected a yellow papaya!! The lady at the checkout counter confirmed our selection. She said, “This is a good one.”

Now the daunting task of cutting the papaya!! How do I do that?

Google to the rescue!!
· Place the papaya on a cutting board. Using a large, sharp knife, cut the papaya in half lengthwise. If your papaya is ripe, this should be easy to do.
· Open up the papaya and separate it into two sections.

· Using a large spoon, scrape out the seeds. The easiest way to do this is to hold the papaya over the garbage can (or a bowl, if you plan to use the seeds), and scrape downward. Try not to cut too deeply with your spoon, or you may lose quite a bit of the fruit. Note: papaya seeds have a peppery flavor to them, and can be used for salad dressings and other purposes, if desired (I chose not to use the seeds. I am NOT that adventurous yet!!)
· Peel the Papaya. Cut into chunks.
· Squeeze a little lime juice over the papaya (about 1 Tbsp) - this brings out the tropical flavor of the fruit. Or combine your fresh papaya with other fruit in a fresh fruit salad.

I tried it w/o the lime juice. Wasn't impressed. Tried it with the lime juice. YUM!!! YUM!!!