The Truth About Green Papaya
Personally I am of the opinion that while ripe
, fragrant papaya is pleasant and interesting, green, unripe papaya is a real treat and accommodating in a wide variety of dishes. Firstly, it must be kept in mind that green papaya is treated as a vegetable, not a fruit. And unlike green mango, that is always the case.Basically green papaya is shredded when consumed raw, and chunked when cooked. It is hard to describe the taste of raw papaya. It is reminiscent of a chewy cucumber. When cooked it has the snap of celery heart and the taste of, well, green papaya. Fresh strands are tough enough to warrant a good thrashing in the mortar and pestle, according to taste of course. Like lettuce, shredded green papaya requires a dressing. The most common being the fish sauce/lime/chili concoctions of Southeast Asia (including the intriguing and smelly-sound pickled mud fish). But the possibilities for green papaya in salads are endless. The flesh is pleasant and neutral and will cooperate well with whatever flavors added to it. Of course there's something irresistible about a Mekong papaya salad, not green but fiery bright red from the handfuls of fresh chili added to it. Eaten as a appetizer on a floating restaurant at sunset, with hazy temples in the distance, one almost gets the feeling of weightlessness.
Green papaya, when cooked, is generally used as a vegetable in curries, but it can be used equally pleasantly in just about any stew or soup. If it is used in curry, it works great in mussuman curry with a crushed peanut garnish. It's also great instead of spinach in an Indian sagawara.
Incidentally, if you're trying to have children, green papaya is said (with scientific support) to have contraceptive qualities if eaten frequently and in large amounts, by either male or female. Of course if that is not an issue then crunch away!
The Truth About Green Papaya
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