New Ingredient of the Week: Papaya

This is not a new feature, just something I thought I'd mention.

While I've had papaya before, I've never bought it.  There was a giant pile of them at Sprouts for only 88¢ a pound, so I bought the smallest, most ripe one I could find.  At just over two pounds, it was a small investment to bring something new into the kitchen.

Preparing papaya is very basic.  Cut it in half lengthwise and scoop out the caper-like seeds.  You can pare off the skin and slice or dice it, or leave the skin on to serve wedges.  It can be blended into drinks, or you can freeze the purée as a sorbet.  Papayas are not overly sweet, so they can adapt more easily to uses in savory dishes.

I ended up serving it based on an idea from the Bible to use lemon-infused whipped cream.  Instead, I took some plain Greek yogurt I had on hand and stirred in lemon juice, honey, and a couple of drops of orange liqueur.  Dolloped on wedges, it was a summery dessert.

And this is post #800!  My seventh blogiversary is July 18th.  I'm astonished that I'm still coming up with anything to write about, even though the posts are sometimes over a week apart.  More of the mix is gardening and non-recipe posts, but at least I'm writing something.  Everyone should write at least weekly, to exercise the brain and language skills.