The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1894-05-15
ABOUT TIE PAPAIA.
An Article About That Fruit by
]. W. GirVin.

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tropical fruits and one which is
less spoken of than all, is the pa
paia. 1t is the carica papaya OF
botanists, called in Hawaii nei he'll
or mikana or papaia. 1t appears
to grow well wherever the seed, by
accident, is dropped, aud to It's
culture very little attention has
been paid. It's habitat is through
out the whole tropical belt of the
world. There are twenty distinct
species of it described. 1t is the
true papaw. 1t seldom grows to a
greater height than twenty feet,
and is in flower and fruit the year
round. The trees are branches,
the leaves and fruit growing from
the main trunk. The trees are
male and female, the male bearing
white blossoms on long peudun-
cles and the female larger ones,
often yellow, on short punduncles
close to the trunk.
Next to the banana, it is proba-
bly, the largest fruit producer to
the acre. The fruit is oval shaped,
the size of a small melon, thin
skinned, flesh about three fourths
of an inch thick, and the center
fnlI Of black wrirkled seeds. The
leaves, fruit and sap have
many peculiar properties, which
make it a very valuable adjunct to
the welfare of mankind resident
in the tropics. The flesh OF the
fruit is aromatic and swedish, and,
with the addition of salt and pep
per or lime juice, forms a delicious
relish at breakfast. When full
size, just before turning ripe, 1t is
often cooked as a vegetable. AT
this stage housewives put it up as
a pickle and it is probably as deli
cate and indigestible as other kinds
of pickles. Island ladies make de-
licious pies of it both as squash or
pumpkin pies are made, and by
scraping the flesh of the ripe fruit
through a sieve. 1t also makes a
good sauce by baking the fruit and
scraping. the pulp and adding lime
juice, mandarin orange juice or
tartaric acid to taste. Those con-
versant with papaia tell of its won
derful medicinal or chemical prop
critics. 1t is said the juice of the
green fruit is an excellent vermi-
fuge. That of the ripe is used as
a cosmetic for removing freckels.
The leaves are used in the West
Indies in lieu of soap in washing
linens, and are eaten with avidity
by cattle. The juice or sap of the
tree contains fibrine, a principle
found heretofore only in the ami
NAL kingdom, and which acts in
the same manner as pepsin in pro-
noting digestion. A few drops OF
it mixed with water will in a few
moments render recently killed or
tough meat tender.
1t is said to reasonable animal
blood minus the red color. The
quality the tree itself has of max,
ing tender the flesh of tough
fowl has been frequently tested by
some of our people. Merely hang
the dead body 70 one of the Leaf
stems over night and tenderness is
secured.
The flesh and seeds are excel
lent food for hogs and poultry
keeping the latter especially III
healthy condition. 1t is rarely
offered for sale in the market pro
badly because its rare good quail
ties as an article of dirt are un
known. 1t is surprising thatsit ii
not cultivated to any extent wher
the yield per acre is so enormous
and the care required is so little
The natives are fond of it but it il
seldom found in their gardens
unless the seed has been carried
there by accident. A native
informed the writer that they
believe that the wind blow
ing through a grove of papaia'
will drive miasma away. They
sometimes use it to ripen bananas
by cutting some of the fruit anc
leaves up and placing the mass II
hole in the ground, into which
they place the full-sized bana
mas and cover over for two
days when the whole bunch will be
found ripened. All who have lots
large enough should have some
papaia trees growing. The growth
| is quick and the trees will beaI
continually for years. Good kinds