TROPICAL TASTE: He'i . . . it's a papaya!

Papaya, (Carica papaya L) the "good for you fruit", is called he'i in Hawaii, fruta bomba or lechosa in some Spanish speaking countries, mamao in the Philippines and tree melon in other places.

 Originally from tropical America, records show that the Pre-Columbians enjoyed its benefits.  It is a quick-growing, hollow stemmed, short-lived perennial plant.

It is unique in that the leaves grow only in bunches from umbrella spoke-like branches on the top of the plant and the fruit grows directly from the trunk, just underneath the canopy of leaves.

Large Caribbean papayas growing in our yard

There are many cultivars, which produce fruit from just a few inches long to others that can be about a foot long and weigh up to 20 pounds.

Mini Hawaiian Solo papaya growing by a nearby backroad

Living in Hawaii, most of us have at least one papaya tree in our backyard and are able to enjoy the benefits of this versatile and healthy fruit.  Both the green and ripe papaya have culinary and medicinal uses and they are loaded with Vitamin A, C and G, providing more than 100 percent of the recommended daily allowances of each.

If you can find fresh papaya in your area markets, look for green fruit or fruit just beginning to turn yellow, but still firm.  Store in brown paper bag for several days until it ripens, or leave out in a fruit bowl but do not refrigerate until completely ripened.

The papaya seeds have a mild, peppery taste and can be ground and used in place of pepper in dressings and other recipes.

Other uses for this plant include using the bark for making rope and in Hawaii for making leis with the long-tubed male flowers.  In Indonesia a confection is made using the flowers.  Papain, a derivative made from the dried latex is used in chewing gum, cosmetics, tanning leather, meat tenderizer and as a drug for digestive purposes.

The following recipe is one we enjoy often for breakfast or as a refreshing mid-afternoon pick-me-up.  The recipe calls for papaya, passion fruit, lime, guava, orange and pineapple juices.  All are loaded with Vitamin C.  For a thicker 'milk-shake', add a banana when processing the papaya pulp.  This will also add a dose of potassium to your diet.

PAPAYA ONO-ONO

The word ono in Hawaiian means delicious or scrumptious.  Using the double ono here tells you already that this is doubly delicious!

4 cups ripe papaya pulp, about 3 pounds fruit

1 cup liliko'i (passion fruit) juice (*)

1/4 cup lime juice

2-1/2 cups guava juice

1/2 cup orange juice

4 cups pineapple juice

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

Use a blender to process the peeled and seeded papaya.  Add fruit juices and chill.  Boil sugar and water until dissolved.  Chill and add to fruit juices and then chill again.  Pour in tall glasses over cracked ice.

(*) You can find frozen concentrate passion fruit juice from South and Central America in many markets.  Look for Maracuya, as it is known there.  Omit the sugar and use 1 cup passion fruit syrup instead of the fresh passion fruit and lime juices.

To make the syrup, combine fruit pulp and juice, sugar and a bit of water in saucepan and simmer until it reaches a syrup stage.

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Sonia Martinez, Food Correspondent

Sonia's column "Tropical Taste" published bi-monthly at Food.Gather.com is an exciting look at the Cuisine of the Tropics.

I have been a gourmet/kitchen shop owner and cooking school teacher since the early 80's. I have  been writing food articles as a regular columnist for several newspapers and a magazine.  Some of the articles ended up compiled into a cookbook, also titled Tropical Taste, now in its second printing.  A recent convert to the blogger world and am having a lot of fun with it.  You can subscribe to Sonia Tastes Hawaii  and keep up with my Hawaiian adventure.

You can find all of my columns at http://Food.gather.com

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