Siam Villa Garden: มะละกอฮอลแลนด์

The papaya is the plant Carica papaya, one of the 22 accepted species in the genus Carica of the family Caricaceae. It was first domesticated in Mesoamerica, within modern-day southern Mexico and Central America. In 2020, India produced 43% of the world supply of papayas.

The papaya is a small, sparsely branched tree, usually with a single stem growing from 5 to 10 m (16 to 33 ft) tall, with spirally arranged leaves confined to the top of the trunk. The lower trunk is conspicuously scarred where leaves and fruit were borne. The leaves are large, 50–70 cm (20–28 in) in diameter, deeply palmately lobed, with seven lobes. All parts of the plant contain latex in articulated laticifers. Papayas are dioecious. The flowers are five-parted and highly dimorphic; the male flowers have the stamens fused to the petals. The female flowers have a superior ovary and five contorted petals loosely connected at the base. Male and female flowers are borne in the leaf axils, and the males are multiflowered dichasia, and the female flowers are in few-flowered dichasia. The pollen grains are elongated and approximately 35 microns in length. The flowers are sweet-scented, open at night, and wind- or insect-pollinated.

The fruit is a large berry about 15–45 cm (5.9–17.7 in) long and 10–30 cm (3.9–11.8 in) in diameter. It is ripe when it feels soft (as soft as a ripe avocado or softer), its skin has attained an amber to orange hue and along the walls of the large central cavity are attached numerous black seeds.

The unripe green fruit can be eaten cooked, but not raw due to its poisonous latex content. The ripe fruit of the papaya is usually eaten raw, without skin or seeds. The black seeds of the papaya are edible and have a sharp, spicy taste.

Green papaya is used in Southeast Asian cooking, both raw and cooked. In some parts of Asia, the young leaves of the papaya are steamed and eaten like spinach.

Papayas became a part of Filipino cuisine after being introduced to the islands via the Manila galleons. Unripe or nearly ripe papayas (with orange flesh but still hard and green) are julienned and are commonly pickled into atchara, which is ubiquitous as a side dish to salty dishes. Nearly ripe papayas can also be eaten fresh as ensaladang papaya (papaya salad) or cubed, and eaten dipped in vinegar or salt. Green papaya is also a common ingredient or filling in various savory dishes such as okoy, tinola, ginataan, lumpia, and empanada, especially in the cuisines of northern Luzon.

In Indonesian cuisine, the unripe green fruits and young leaves are boiled for use as part of lalab salad, while the flower buds are sautéed and stir-fried with chillies and green tomatoes as Minahasan papaya flower vegetable dish.

In Lao and Thai cuisine, unripe green papayas are used to make a type of spicy salad known in Laos as tam maak hoong and in Thailand as som tam. It is also used in Thai curries, such as kaeng som.

In traditional medicine, papaya leaves have been used as a treatment for malaria,[40] an abortifacient, a purgative, or smoked to relieve asthma.