Papaya

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Papaya (lat. Carica papaya) Is a tree crop belonging to the Caricaceae family.

Description

Papaya is a slender and relatively low bizarre palm-shaped tree, endowed with a thin trunk devoid of twigs, reaching a height of five to ten meters. The leaves of this plant are quite large - their diameter reaches fifty to seventy centimeters. All of them are finger-dissected and sit on elongated petioles.

The development of flowers occurs in the leaf axils. After some time, all flowers turn into large fruits, reaching a length of fifteen to forty-five centimeters, and in diameter - from ten to thirty centimeters.

The soft ripe fruit can vary in color from yellow to rich amber. The juicy pulp of papaya is colored in bright orange-yellowish tones, and the entire inner cavity of each fruit is densely dotted with a huge number of seeds (an average of seven hundred pieces). Also, all parts of this fruit differ in the content of milky juice. Sometimes the weight of the fruit can reach six to seven kilograms, however, in cultivated varieties it rarely exceeds one to three kilograms.

Care must be taken when collecting fruits - the fact is that they release latex juice, which provokes allergic reactions in many people and extremely unpleasant skin irritation.

Spreading

The homeland of papaya is considered to be the north of South America, as well as Central America with Mexico. And now these wonderful fruits are grown in almost every tropical country. By the way, experimental planting of this culture can be found in the south of Russia (more specifically, on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus).

Usage

The main use of these fruits is for food. In most cases, papaya is eaten raw, having previously been freed from the skin and seeds. Unripe fruits are often stewed or used to make salads or curries. And from the fruits baked on a fire, an amazing smell of bread emanates - it is for this that this culture was nicknamed the breadfruit. In addition, papaya is also called a melon tree, because in its unique taste, as well as in structure, shape and even in its chemical composition, this tropical beauty is very reminiscent of a melon.

Papaya is rich in an enzyme called papain (a fiber softening protease) and a variety of other proteins. By the way, the property of the juice of this plant to destroy tough meat fibers has been successfully used for several thousand years in South America.

Papain is produced from the purified milky juice of leaves and unripe fruits. This substance is actively used to improve digestion as soon as possible. In addition, papain is also a part of the medicines "Karyopazin" and "Lekozyme" intended for the treatment of intervertebral osteochondrosis.

In addition, papaya leaves and fruits contain a certain amount of carpain - this is the name of an alkaloid that has a pronounced anthelmintic effect. True, in too large doses, it poses a danger to humans.

Papaya is also incredibly popular in tropical folk medicine, where it is used not only as an excellent anthelmintic (mainly a decoction of leaves and roots), but also as a means for self-abortion, and also as a means of contraception. The dried leaves of this plant are smoked instead of tobacco or to relieve asthma symptoms. And in local pharmacies, you can find bags with crushed dry leaves for making tea on sale. In addition, papaya juice is often used to cure certain diseases of the spine.

In Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, a decoction of papaya leaves is also successfully used as a laxative for horses. And a virologist named Luc Montagnier claims that the drugs produced on the basis of this fruit help prevent all kinds of viral infections.