Hey! Thats my papaya fruits and Im going to take them down today,...papaya anyone? Hehehe..thats my finger pointing to my son which fruits to bring down. The papaya tree is in my backyard outside the chain fence on the riverbank of Ampang River. I didnt actually plant it, just threw some papaya seeds 2 years ago and walla! its been giving me lots of fruits since then.
They say eat papaya a day keeps the doctor away...it is said to lower the blood pressure. Actually, there are so many medicinal values in the fruits, the young shoots, the seeds, the flowers, that I would not go through here, as you can easily find them out in the internet. Do you know why some of your papaya plants fail to bear fruits, even if they do, the young fruits start to fall off not long after that? Well, in that case, either your papaya is a female or a male tree and when they are not pollinated by either one,...nothing happens! So I guess, mine is a self-pollinated tree... the hermaphoradite or it can also be either male or female tree but pollinated with the help of the birds and bees!
photo from Wikipediafemale flowers of papaya tree
photos from Jim Conrad's Naturalist NewsletterOn the left is female papaya tree, although it bear lots of fruits, they will drop off soon after. Why? Female flower have ovary, after the petals drop off, it forms fruit but if not pollinated, they dont carry seeds inside and they become barren fruits and fall off afterwards. On the right, the male flowers, they have no ovaries, but they contain stamens-bearing pollens which can pollinate female flowers. While the hermaphrodite has both the ovary and stamens-bearing pollens, they can pollinate themselves without the presence of male or female trees nearby.
Another part of the papaya tree that can be eaten is the young shoots, although very bitter, it is said to lower your blood pressure. To make it less bitter, you can boil them together with guava leaves. The boiled leaves can be eaten as kerabu together with the male flowers or eaten on its own with sambal belacan....soooo delicious!
my papaya fruits taken down to be eaten as dessert after our lunch...
....or with a twist of the lime juice....
...
...one papaya still not totally ripe, so I love to cicah (dip in) with kuah rojak,
a hot and spicy local salad sauce
The unripe papaya fruit can also be made into kerabu by slicing it thinly, while young fruit can be cooked in masak air (a clear soup) or masak bening (Javanese soup with a tangy taste of tamarind).
Papaya anyone?
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11 comments:
me me me! i love papaya.. esp kalau sejukkan dulu sebelum makan.. :)
my baby morning glory is growing tapi ada belalang kecik2 dok gigit daun.. geram betul..
I have lots of papaya trees. I have meant to do a post on male and female plants but you beat me to it. I like to eat them with lemon or lime.
I had no idea that papaya comes from a tall tree like a coconut or a date. I am completely surprised and learned something new today.
Hi Lady, I pun suka papaya yg dah dipotong2 masuk kan dalam fridge, pastu perah limau kasturi sebelum makan..emmmm delicious!Hari2 pun mau...
One...did I beat you to the story? Ooops sorry, hehehe..but never mind, I only know of one plant that have male and female flowers, maybe you know other plants too, so its still quite interesting to have another post from you!
Lifeshigway...thanks for dropping by small garden. Yes papaya tree is quite a tall one, but now new varieties are of course smaller for easy picking!
Mmmm...papaya is so yummy! I think I could eat it almost every day if I had the plant growing in MY backyard. The papaya and kuah rojak looks good too. I wish I could stand to eat hotter dishes! I'm a wimp when it comes to spicy!
I had once a papaya tree which was a treat to the startling.
I never tried eating papaya with lime before. My mother fed me with lots of young papaya for breastmilk supply during my pantang.
Rainfield, I have to share my papaya fruits not only with the birds but also a musang (fox) who comes at night and left their poop all over the place after the meal!
Diana, my mom gave me the bitter young shoots or unripe boiled papaya to eat with sambal belacan during pantang to increase milk supply. Luckily I love to eat ulam2 so its an appetiser to me! Next time try papaya with lime, its refreshing and delicious esp when you eat it cold!
That papaya looks so delicious!
Made me miss the ones back at home. I didn't know you could eat other parts of the plant tho, Thanks for the tip
Hi, I've never tried papaya as ulam before. I love ulam, so guess I should try. The comments here are a treasury of information on papaya! By the way,I am now your 35th follower. :-)
Rosie
Thanks for the info. Very nice to be able to take one down and eat it.
Cher
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