My five year old is an odd little duckling.
He's very observant - much more so than his older brother, more so than some adults I know. He sees everything, takes it all in, processes it in his little round and, if you're lucky, shares his conclusions with you.
During the brief Dried Fruit Craze of '13, we tried dried papaya. They ate it, I heard no complaints or cheers, and aside from them both forgetting and calling it "paella" more than once, it was pretty much a non-event at Casa Munday.
Then suddenly one afternoon 5yo asked what a fresh papaya looks like. I described it for him and showed him a picture online. He asked if we could buy one at the grocery store.
Sure, why not.
So we did, and what a strange fruit it is. The flesh is a blend of coral pink and orange. It's very soft. The peeling is greenish yellow, slightly wrinkled, and easily removed with a knife. The seeds are dark brown, a little larger than an apple seed, and covered in a sort of squishy membrane thing. (They also taste AWFUL, if you should chance to taste one in case you're supposed to eat the seeds. Or so I've heard. *whistles nonchalantly*)
7yo claimed he liked it "okay", but after eating it the first day I packed it in his lunch (YAY!) it came home uneaten, sweaty, and fit for nothing but the compost bin on day two (BOO!)
5yo says he liked it quite a lot, and he did it for two days' worth of lunches plus as a snack one afternoon, so I'll call that a win.
16mo - whatever, he doesn't get a vote. That child is going through the always-marvelous I love it / I hate it stage, so whatever, I'm going to keep giving it to him in case I happen to catch the 9 minutes of the day wherein he will eat papaya.
Me? I don't like it at all. The mouth feel is... too fleshy. There is a strange aftertaste. I can't say I hate it, or anything, but I certainly wouldn't buy one again unless the kids demanded it. Right now, there is half a papaya sitting in my fridge, acting all judgmental every time I open the door.
However, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? And maybe it would make nice smoothies, or something.
According to my dehydrator handbook, papaya seeds when dehydrated can be used for steak rubs, like a pepper. So that's probably why they aren't great to eat straight up. I don't like papaya; the taste, the texture, everything. I don't even like them DRIED.
ReplyDeleteI live where papayas grow on trees in the yard. So I've had the opportunity to have them all fresh and ripe and stuff. They still taste a bit like dirty diapers to me. As my 2 year old says, "Bleah!"
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