Papayas - how do you know when they're ripe?

[wyopatti]

Can anyone tell me how you know when a papaya is ripe and ready to cut? I bought one this week-end to use with chicken salad and don't want to cut it until I'm sure it's ready to be cut?

[BosunsWife]

I buy them green and let them ripen to a yellow color. Should be slightly soft to the touch, but not squishy. At .32 a pound here (commissary), its one of the cheapest eats for fruit that I can find, besides bananas.

[Grace]

WOW, am I jealous! 32 cents a pound??!! They're super expensive here. Since we live
FAR from Hawaii, the papayas we get aren't usually very good. You want to look for ones that are uniformly yellow, with as few brown spots as possible. And it should give slightly when squeezed gently - as Bosunswife says, definitely not squishy. I find the green ones here don't really ripen very well, and the ones that are already yellow at the store are typically full of brown spots, or really squishy. It's hard to find a perfect one, and when I do, I snatch it up! I like eating them with the seeds scooped out, and squirted with LOTS of lemon juice. MMMMMMmmmmmm!!!!! Enjoy. And Bosunswife, feel free to send me as many papayas as you want!! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

[Gail]

Just in case you want any further information on papayas, check out this page from Wegman's which has got wonderful information on produce. http://www.wegmans.com/kitchen/ingredients/produce/fruit/papaya.asp

[SoCal]

Thanks to Mamasue, I found this on the website she posted in a different thread. Very good site Mamasue, thanks!
http://www.ehow.com/eHow/eHow/0,1053,3079,00.html

[wyopatti]

Thanks for the information. Here in Wyoming papayas are $2.49 to $2.99 EACH! Recently, while in Palm Springs, I had a papaya topped with curry chicken salad. Yummy! I thought I'd try to come up with the same kind of dish.