Papayas from tropical and subtropical growing areas are usually brought to supermarkets in this country by plane. Despite the relatively short transport time, some fruits are harvested a little too early before they are actually ripe.
Identifying the ripeness of a papaya
The best way to tell how ripe a papaya is is with your eyes and the sense of touch in your fingers. First, pay attention to the color of the shell. If it is still completely green, the papaya in question is not suitable for ripening and can only be used to prepare spicy papaya salads according to Asian recipes. If, on the other hand, the fruit shows the first yellow spots or stripes, it can still reach its maximum sweetness and flavor intensity after a few days of ripening. A fruit that is completely yellow or slightly reddish in color gives slightly when the fingers are gently pressed against the peel and has reached the maximum degree of ripeness.
Let a papaya ripen easily
As long as the papaya you buy already has yellowish color on the peel, it can still ripen. To do this, simply wrap them in some newspaper and place them in a warm place. On a windowsill above the radiator, the papaya can sometimes ripen quite quickly. Therefore, check the degree of ripeness regularly and, when fully ripe, put the fruit in the refrigerator for further storage if you do not want or cannot eat it straight away. To ripen even faster, you can also use other types of fruit that release ethylene gas when ripe.
Use a ripe papaya to ripen other fruits
Papayas share the special property of releasing ethylene gas with the following fruits in particular:
- Bananas
- Tomatoes
- Apples
This means that fruits stored in the immediate vicinity ripen more quickly, but can also spoil. You can therefore place a fully ripe papaya next to other types of fruit and allow them to ripen faster. As a result, you can make a sufficiently ripe papaya with the first touches of yellow color ripen more quickly if you place it next to a fully ripe and soft papaya.
Tips & Tricks
When papayas ripen, you should not overlook the right time for consumption. Once the flavor is fully ripe, a papaya will only last a few days in the refrigerator. So that there are no taste deficiencies, the remains of uneaten papaya should be pureed and frozen in good time.
