Fruit Tree of the Day: Papaya

Today’s fruit tree is the papaya. Most of you may have had papaya before; it’s quite common in the produce section of stores. Unfortunately, this fruit is like durian where ones you find in stores taste awful. Pretty much all the ones that I’ve gotten from stores taste like vomit. But, there are varieties that you can grow yourself that don’t. They can taste really good! Farmers markets in Central and South Florida sometimes have them when they’re in season. I wouldn’t take my chances buying one at any other place. You’ll be hoping to something delicious, and 9 times out of 10, there’ll be that vomit flavor messing up with what papaya is supposed to taste like.

Papaya trees grow very well in Florida, as long as you protect them during freezes. They don’t need much fertilizer, and they’re like plumerias where if you chop off a branch, you can plant it and get a new tree. They don’t grow very well from seeds. In fact, their seeds have a coating on the outside that prevents them from germinating. But you’re unlikely to find fertile seeds anyway–most of our papayas are imported, and most imported fruit is zapped with radiation to kill any bugs on it, which also kills the seeds.