the.com/papaya
a fruit so divisive its smell tastes like dessert and reads like dirty socks
means A large tropical fruit with soft orange-pink flesh, black seeds, and a flavor people either love or find faintly funky.
from From Spanish 'papaya,' which Spanish explorers borrowed from a Caribbean language — most likely Taíno or a related Arawakan tongue — when they encountered the fruit in the New World. The word then spread along trade routes worldwide, which is why so many languages call it some echo of 'papaya.' A linguistic tangle worth noting: in parts of the Caribbean and Latin America the fruit is instead called 'papaw' or 'pawpaw,' a name that also drifted onto an unrelated North American fruit, so the two share a label but not a family tree.
- enzyme weapon
- papain digests protein, used to tenderize tough meat
- odor gene
- some people genetically smell it as rancid
- seeds edible
- taste peppery, like a milder black pepper
- giant herb
- the tree is technically a fast-growing herb
- all female
- some plants flip sex based on heat stress
carica papaya — the species native to central america, now grown commercially across tropical regions including mexico, brazil, and india
pawpaw — common name for papaya in english-speaking countries, particularly in australia and parts of africa
maradol papaya — commercial cultivar from mexico, the most widely exported variety globally since the 1980s