Papaya

Carica papaya; katés. This is another American tree, brought to Malaysia by Spaniards or Portuguese. It is one of the easiest fruits to grow, and delicious, if a little lemon or lime juice is squeezed over it. Papaya leaves are used for tenderizing meat, and during the war we used to drink the juice of young leaves as a prophylactic against malaria. Burkill says that the papaya ‘does not lend itself to transport’, but it is often available nowadays in the West. Unfortunately, it has to be shipped green and ripened artificially, hence the rather uninteresting flavour of English supermarket fruit.