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Oh no, those sound terribly unripe. They should be dark golden yellow or red on the inside. Are they hard to the touch on the outside? I’ve had Maradol papayas (the kind you’re talking about) and they are sweet and juicy and soft.
They’re not hard, but not super soft. Maybe about the consistency of a not quite ripe avocado? Smooth green skin.
This is the green papaya! good for salads.
The sweet papaya is yellow-orange outside, and orange inside.
I buy these gargantuan ones that come from Mexico. They’re green on the outside, weigh at least a kilo (a couple of pounds), and are ripe when they yield to slight pressure and give off a light honey-like aroma on the stem end. They go more yellowish on the outside as they ripen. The colour inside is similar to a pink grapefruit. My vietnamese markets also sell a rock-hard green papaya that has a different shape and is labelled “green papaya”. It’s a different variety. I’m sure they’re quite sweet when ripe and yellow inside, but they have a nice crunchiness when unripe.
Green Papaya is used like a vegetable, you can make curries out of it. If you buy a un-ripe papaya, let it sit on counter for a couple of days until it softens and develops yellowish-red colour.
I actually never liked papayas until I discovered the “Martha’s Best” brand. I really don’t mean to sound like a commercial but they are incredible and now papayas are my favorite fruit. They’re from Jamaica, and if you live in the US, I believe this is the only brand you can get that is fully tree-ripened. They’re also non-GMO, which is good, because many papayas are genetically modified. They tend to be smallish, about 4 inches long, and full of red juicy flesh. I get them by the case in Chinatown here in NYC. I eat them with a spoon for breakfast usually and then save the skins in the fridge (for 24 hours max) to use at night as a skin treatment!
Papaya gentle exfoliating mask: after you’ve eaten the flesh, rub the juicy inside of the papaya skin all over your (clean) face and neck, wait about 5 minutes til it dries, then rinse off. The protein-digesting enzymes literally eat up your dead skin cells, deblocking pores and softening the texture of the outer layer of your skin. And it doesn’t sting or anything. People pay crazy amounts of money for “enzyme-rich” creams, but a fresh papaya is more effective, I believe.
In brief, I highly recommend to all finding out if Martha’s Best papayas are distributed near you—check Asian markets or contact the distributor if you’re motivated.