Facts about Papaya
The papaya, Carica papaya, is a small tree, with the single stem growing from 5 to 10 meters in height.
The fruit of the papaya is ripe when it feels soft (like a ripe avocado or a bit softer) and its skin has attained an amber to orange hue.
Carica, the genus to which the papaya belongs, is a taxa of flowering plants in the family Caricaceae.
Papaya is native to the tropics of the Americas, and was cultivated in Mexico several centuries before the emergence of the Mesoamerican classic cultures.
Women in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and various other parts of the world have used papaya as a folk remedy for contraception and abortion.
The papaya fruit tends to be large, being about 15-45 cm long (6 to 17 inches) and 10-30 cm in diameter (4 to 12 inches).
Papaya also is the name for the large, juicy, melon-like, edible fruit of this tree, which has black seeds in the center and typically ranges in color from an amber to a yellow hue.
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Papaya is a palm-like, soft-stemmed, evergreen tree, Carica papaya, that is native to the tropics of the Americas, but which is now cultivated in tropical and warm, semi-tropical zones around the world.
Today, the papaya is cultivated in most countries with a tropical or warm semi-tropical climate like Brazil, India, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines.
The papaya fruit and leaves also contains carpaine, an anthelmintic alkaloid, which could be dangerous in high doses.
Excessive consumption of papaya, as of carrots, can cause carotenemia, the yellowing of soles and palms which is otherwise harmless.
Unripe papaya is considered to be especially effective in large amounts or high doses.
Papaya is not considered to be teratogenic (causing birth defects) and will not cause miscarriage in small, ripe amounts.
The unripe green fruit of papaya can be eaten cooked, usually in curries, salads, pies, and stews.
The papaya has spirally arranged leaves confined to the top of the trunk.
Phytochemicals in papaya seeds may suppress the effects of progesterone (Oderinde et al.
The juice of unripe papaya is rich in an enzyme called papain, a protease that is useful in tenderizing meat and other proteins, as well as used as a treatment for indigestion.
Caution should be taken when harvesting, as papaya is known to release a latex fluid when not quite ripe, which can cause irritation and provoke an allergic reaction in some people.