In praise of the papaya, a most versatile fruit
From meat tenderiser to Pacific wartime cigarette additive, the papaya has found many uses down the years, writes Jason Wordie
As the spring advances, locally grown papaya will become a market staple for several months.
While some fruit is still produced in the New Territories, most locally available papaya now comes from China, Taiwan or Malaysia.
Among the many New World food crops introduced into maritime Asia by the Spanish and Portuguese in the 17th century, the papaya is one of the most versatile.
The English name derived from the Spanish pronunciation of the original Carib name but, in southern China, it became known as mook-gwa (“wood fruit”), for reasons that remain obscure.
Across the region today, the word “papaya” generally refers to the pink- or orange-fleshed fruit; the larger, more rounded yellow variety is more commonly known as a paw-paw, by which name it is usually known in Australia, the South Pacific and the West Indies.
In Hong Kong, the word “papaya” predominates and “paw-paw” is largely unknown.
Papaya has many functions.