You can recognize papayas that have reached the right degree of ripeness when they have a completely yellow or slightly reddish skin. In this state, the fruits can only be kept in the refrigerator for a few days if they are not preserved.

Select and dry ripe papayas

The pulp of papayas has a melon-like consistency and a relatively weak taste of its own. Therefore, absolutely fully ripe papayas with a maximum flavor intensity must be selected for drying. These can only be dried successfully if their flesh is cut into slices no more than one centimeter thick. The pieces can then be dried in the oven at around 50 degrees Celsius within a few hours. Make sure that the pieces are only placed in the storage containers when they have very little residual moisture. Otherwise there is a risk that the dried papayas will become moldy during storage.

Prepare and dry the papaya seeds

The seeds inside papayas are particularly good for drying. If they are dried whole, they can be chewed in small portions several times a day and used to regulate the intestines in the event of intestinal problems. Before drying, the papaya seeds must be completely cleaned of any pulp by rubbing them between two sheets of kitchen paper. This is the only way they can be dried in the oven at around 50 degrees Celsius without the risk of mold growth afterwards. The dried seeds can be stored in airtight containers for months and ground like pepper in a spice grinder and used as a hot spice for various dishes.

Alternative ways of preserving papayas

Drying the pulp is not a particularly promising method of storing papayas, since the pulp does not have a very intense taste of its own and, in dried form, is no longer as refreshing. But there are other ways to keep the delicious fruit a little longer:

  • the freezing
  • the canning
  • the candy

For candying, the fruit cut into pieces is poured over several days in a row with a previously boiled, lukewarm sugar solution. Osmotic processes remove water from the fruit and increase the sugar content to a preservative level.

tips and tricks

Papayas that have been stored for too long are no longer really suitable for drying because their pulp has a too soft consistency and often taste deficits.

The garden journal freshness ABC

How can fruit and vegetables be stored correctly so that they stay fresh for as long as possible?

The garden journal freshness ABC as a poster:

  • as a free PDF file to print out yourself

Category:

Trees