Papaya tree has both ripe, yellow and unripe, green fruits. The unripe green fruit can be eaten cooked, usually in curries, salads, and stews. Green papaya is used in Southeast Asian cooking, both raw and cooked.

Green papaya flesh has a foamy texture and a mild, almost tasteless flavor. But if you massage shredded green papaya with salt and sugar, a preparation you might also use for daikon or carrots, the papaya flesh becomes sweet and crispy, with a mild, cucumber-like flavor.

Green papaya, which can also be pickled or added to soups, is commonly used for salads in Vietnam and Thailand.

Nutritional Facts

• It helps in Healing problematic skin injuries and conditions, relieves menstrual pain, controls bowel-movements, protects from heart diseases and helps in burning of calories.

Some of the recipes are:

• Green Papaya salad
• Fried green papaya
• Som Tum Papaya Salad
• fried green papaya with shrimp salad