What is that?

“It’s a Papaya”.

“What do you do with it?”.

Where shall I begin?!

Here’s a few things you can do with papaya:

1 Cut it in half and remove the seeds. These are very good for killing certain parasites in the gut, I know but you probably have a few…at least…. If you are making a smoothy keep a reaspoon full to add in, gives a slightly spicy tang.

2 Sprinkle with lime juice and just eat it. Delicious any time and a great start to the day.

3 Dry the seeds and use them in a pepper mill, they add a nice punch to food and extra nutritional benefits too.

4 If you eat a protein heavy meal, for example red meat, have some Papaya as a refreshing desert or starter. It is full of papain, proteolytic enzymes, that help digestion. It is also high in vitamins A, B and C, potassium, calcium and of course fibre which we love!

5 Delicious in a salad.

I make a big mixed salad using various leaves, all the summer standards such as cucumber, radish, tomatoes, onions etc and chop in a papaya ( or half, depends on the size and how many people!) and avocado.

Sprinkle with sea weed flakes and toss in a dressing of your choice. My fave for this salad is:  juice of an orange, about 1 desert spoon (to taste) Braggs, same of really flavoursome olive oil, tsp honey or agave, a crushed clove of garlic.

I sprinkle the whole thing with some chia seeds (to soak up all that lovely dressing) and help seeds.

6 Don’t throw away the skin! Rub in on your hands, your face, elbows, knees, all over. It softens your skin, eats away the dead skin cells, cleans it really. Leave for up to ten minutes (avoid your eyes) then rinse off; like a baby’s botty.

7 I went to an Ayurdedic retreat and it was served steamed (traditionally Ayurveda is not so cooked as depending on the dosha some people find raw foods harder to digest). It was actually delicious, I couldn’t tell it had been cooked so maybe it hadn’t been steamed much; I’d stick to raw personally.

So, there you have it, a few ideas to enjoy the magic of Papaya.

I think I’ll print it out on cards and carry some around with me to give to the people on the super market tills!