Latin Name : Carica papaya
Family : Caricaceae
Common Names : Papaya tree, Papaw tree, Papaye, Papeeta, Pawpaw tree, Kates, Tree Melon.
Sanskrit Name : Erandakarkati
Parts Used : Fruit, Leaves, seed, latex

Introduction : Carica papaya is an excellent source of vitamin A and C, and potassium. Organic Papaya is consumed fresh when ripe while the green fruits are grated in salads or boiled like squash. The papaya is a pear-shaped fruit with a bright golden-yellow skin. The flesh is also golden-yellow; juicy and silky smooth, with a sweet-tart flavor. The large center cavity is filled with shiny, gray seeds. Though the peppery seeds are generally discarded.

Plant Description : Papaya is a tropical tree, growing up to 26 - 32 ft tall. It has an erect, branchless trunk with scars from old leaf stem. The leaves of papaya are divided into several lobes like the fingers of the hand. The five-petalled flowers are fleshy, waxy and slightly fragrant. Normally, this species is dioecious, male and female flowers being produced on separate plants; but hermaphroditic forms are known, and numerous irregularities in the distribution of the sexes are common. The papaya tree starts to bear fruit after 11 months or so of plantation; it flowers and bears fruit all around the year.

Fruit : The large oval fruits are attached in clusters togther and the fruit can weigh up to 20 lbs.

Unripe Papaya : Also called Green papaya. The white colored milky juice that exdudes from the green unripe fruit when injured is a good digestive. It stimulates the secrection of gastric juice, hence, used in cases of dyspepsia. Green papaya is generally used as a vegetable, cooked similarly to zucchini.

Ripe Papaya : Upon ripeing the green color of the papaya turns to deep orange, yellow juicy fleshed fruit. It contains numerous black colored seeds. The papaya pulp is basically very sweet in taste, fiberless and refreshing. A popular breakfast fruit in many countries and is also used in salads, pies, sherbets, juices,jam, jelly and confections.

Habitate : Papaya tree thrives best on well drained fertile soil. It is fairly resistant to draught, but susceptible to frost and strong winds.

History : The digestive action of this plant upon meat was probabaly known in the West Indies at a very early date and appears to be communicated to india upon the introduction of the tree by the Portuguese.The juice was mixed with fresh ginger for making meat tender. It was also used as a remedy for haemoptysis, bleeding piles, ulcers of urinary tract, dyspepsia. The milky juice was used externally for psoriasis.

Chemicals : Both ripe and unripe fruits are rich source of pectins, vitamin A, thiamine, niacin, riboflavine, vitamin C. The fresh fruit contains papain, malic acid, salts of tartaric, carotenoid pigments and varied glucosides.

Action : Anodyne, stomachic, Appetiser, Carminative, Anthelmintic, Styptic, Demulcent.

Uses :

• Pureed with ginger and hot peppers, papaya marinade is a natural meat tenderizer.

• Unripe, green papayas are pickled or cooked and eaten like summer squash, especially in Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

• The young leaves are sometimes eaten like spinach.

• In traditional veterinary medicine, papaya seeds also are used as dewormers. In Indonesia and the Philippines, air-dried seeds are ground and mixed with water papaya leaves are used for animals after parturition.

• It also has been reported that papaya leaf extract is used as a profilaxis against malaria, though no studies on this use could be found in the literature.

• In tropical folk medicine, the fresh latex is smeared on boils, warts and freckles and given as a vermifuge.A root decoction is claimed to expel roundworms.

• In India, it is applied on the uterus as an irritant to cause abortion. The unripe fruit is sometimes hazardously ingested to achieve abortion. Seeds, too, may bring on abortion. They are often taken as an emmenagogue. The root is ground to a paste with salt, diluted with water and given as an enema to induce abortion.

• Dried leaves have been smoked to relieve asthma or as a tobacco substitute.

• Papaya juice and nectar may be prepared from peeled or unpeeled fruit and are sold fresh in bottles or canned. In Hawaii, papayas are reduced to puree with sucrose added to retard gelling and the puree is frozen for later use in fruit juice blending or for making jam.