The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1894-05-12
ABOUT TIE PAPAIA.
An Artiols About That Fruit by
]. W. Giryln.


tropical fruits and enc which is
less spoken of than all. is The pa
paia. It is the csrioa papsya Of /
botanists, called in Hawaii mel he'll
or mikana or papaia. Il appears
to grow we'll wherever the seed, by |
accident, is dropped, and 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 il 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 branchless,
the leaves and fruit growing from
the main trunk. The trees are
male and female, the male bearing
white blossoms on long peudun-
Giles and the female larger ones,
often yellow, on short punduncles
close to the trunk.
Next to the banana, 1t Is prooa-
bly the largest fruit producer to
the acre. The fruit is oval shaped,
the size OF small melon, thin
skinned. flesh about three, fourths
of an inch thick, and the center
full of black wrinkled seeds. The
leaves, fruit and sap have
many peculiar properties, which
make il a very valuable adjunct to
the welfare of mankind resident
in the tropics. The flesh of the
fruit Is aromatic and sweetish, and,
with the addition of salt and pep
per or lime juice, forms a delicious
relish at breakfast. When full
size. lust before turning ripe, 1t Is
often cooked as vegetable AT
this stage housewives put 1T up as
a pickle and it is probably as deli
cate and indigesuble as other kinds
of piekles. Island ladies make de-
licious pies of it both as squash or
Dumpkin pies are made. and by
seraping 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
mice. mandarin orange juice or
tartaric acid to taste. Those con-
yersant 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 avldity
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
II mixed with water will In few
moments render recently killed OF
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 a tough
fowl has been frequently tested by
some of our people. Merely hape
the dead body 10 one of the lea
stems over night and tenderness Ii
secured.
The flesh and seeds are excel
lent food for hogs and poultry
keeping the latter especially III
ba.Ithv condition. Il is rarely
offered for sale in the market pro
badly because its rare good quail
ties as an article of DIRT are IN
known. It is surprising that it i
not cultivated to any extent Whel
the yield per acre is so enormou
and the care required Is so little
The natives are fond Of 1t but 1t
seldom found in their garden
unless the seed has been carrie'
there by accident. a natlv
informed the writer that the.
believe that the wind bio"
ing through a grove OF papala
will drive miasma away. The,
sometimes use it to ripen bananas
by cutting some OF the fruit an'
leaves up and placing the mass il
a hole in the ground, into whicl
they place the full-sized bana
mas and cover over for tw
DAYS when the whole bunch will b
found ripened. All who have lot
large enough should have som
papaia trees growing. The gro"tl
is quick and the trees VIII oea
continually for years. Good kind
for table use can be had to plant
Will not more of our people try 1t