Papaya

Name	Papaya
Peak season	throughout the year, but mostly during the dry season
Uses	hand-fruit, juice, salads, jams
Vegetation	tree
Scientific Name	Carica papaya
Spanish Name	papaya

The papaya is one of the largest fruits found in Nicaragua. Ripe papayas are yellow from the outside with orange flesh inside. The fruit is often cut in pieces and used in a fruit salad along with other fruits. The unripe, green papaya can be combined with mango to create sweets. It is also possible to make papaya juice or jam.

There are several papaya species grown in Nicaragua that vary in shape and size, but most of them are fairly large. This fruit is normally long and rounded. Its pulp is rich in vitamins A, B, and C.

The papaya tree is remarkably thin and fragile for such a large fruit. Papayas grow in the top of the tree, right below the leaves. In fact, the papaya is considered to be an herb fruit, because the tree lacks a woody structure.

The ‘trees’ are fast-growing and in less than a year it will be possible to produce the first papayas, and in the next year the tree can already produce up to 50 papayas. The fruits are harvested when they are still green, and they are then ripened in the sun. Despite its size, papayas are delicate fruits and they must be handled with care. If a harvested papaya wets, it will turn bad.