Papaya

Native to Central America, the papaya (Carica papaya) is now widely grown in subtropical Asia. In Burmese, it’s thimbaw. Papaya fruit grows in clumps at the top of spindly-looking trees that mature very quickly and produce fruit year-round. The fruits are long and slightly bulbous, green skinned and hard when unripe, with pale green flesh. They ripen and soften to yellow- or orange-colored skin with yellow to almost-red flesh. The skin is fine and supple and inedible; the seeds are black and are an old remedy against intestinal worms.