Papaya. Delicious and good for health
As I am now in a country where papaya grows, I looked for more information about this delicious and useful plant. I knew it is useful, but did not know that sooo useful: strengthens heart, prevents diabetes, cancer, regulates blood pressure, even prevents age related macular degeneration. I like eating the fruit, but also the seeds. They contain a lot of papain. I eat the seeds raw or dry as a substitutes of pepper. Well, fruit and herbs I use as precaution not to develop illnesses. Thus I will eat even more this useful fruit.
I like the plant. Never saw so many before. It is amazing that it can hold so many heavy fruit.
I have also read that one should not eat not ripe papaya unless cooked and that people having latex allergy may be sensitive to papaya.
Comments
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Thanks @jowitt.europe!
About papaya seeds...twenty seeds twice a day is what is recommended as an effective dewormer, taken over 7 days, but any more will cause issues. A petite woman should take half of that. Taken together with earing the fruit alone or in a smoothie is a nice addition to the protocol.
We have also used the seeds as a meat tenderizer. The only issue with that is that if you leave them on too long, you will have liquid meat!
You also don't want to mistake the seeds for pepper. It doesn't quite taste the same. 😏
If the fruit prevents macular degeneration, I wonder if it has any effect after the fact, reversing it or halting it once happening?
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@jowitt.europe papaya or paw paw as we aussies call it, is a summer staple in our house. Especially the red fruited variety. I didn’t realise the seeds were consumable. I didn’t think they would grow in Austria, or are you visiting elsewhere?
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It is good. I often combine it with mango or pineapple, lime, habanero peppers, garlic and cilantro for pork dishes and seafood. You have to be a bit careful with it, because it is an amazing meat tenderizer - can reduce your chop to mush very quickly!
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Papayas are delicious and can be deseeded and the orange flesh be juiced for a great start to your day with fresh fruit juice!
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@jowitt.europe I'm interested to hear more about the macular degeneration aspect of the papaya. That is what my mom is suffering from. I will definitely need to look into this a bit more.
@LaurieLovesLearning I'm with you, I wonder does it reverse/halt if one already has it?🤔
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@LaurieLovesLearning it is interesting what you write about numbers of seeds. When I have a papaya, I eat much more than 20 seeds in one go. So far so good. I guess, there are no worms whatsoever left in my stomach 😊
I did not know that papaya seeds act as meat tenderiser. And that too many can really ruin the dish @judsoncarroll4 , @LaurieLovesLearning thank you saying that. There is always something to learn!
@JodieDownUnder no, they do not grow in Austria. Besides, our village is already white with snow. But we are on Canary Islands. For the time being in La Gomera and then we stay for two more weeks in Tenerife. Here the weather is much warmer. No winters.
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@LaurieLovesLearning , @JennyT Upstate South Carolina
these are the articles I found in English. May be you will find them useful. I will read more myself.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/275517#benefits
http://oxfarm.co.ke/tag/papaya-for-macular-degeneration/
https://knoji.com/article/benefits-of-papaya-for-macular-degeneration/
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@jowitt.europe Thanks for the links.
I think the concern with many seeds is causing restroom emergencies. 😳 Supposedly many that use tiktok had done a couple tablespoons at one time and paid for it afterward. It is really a thing of build up to the point where you see an issue, then cut back, as K. P. Khalsa usually says
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@LaurieLovesLearning Thank you for tel long me that. I will be more careful with amounts I take in one go 😊
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@jowitt.europe Well, I stand corrected on a few things. It is stomach upset that you are watching for initially. Eating it with protien lessens this possibility. I must have mixed what I said up with what the article says about too much magnesium causing diarrhea. 😑 Either way, it wouldn't be welcome nor pleasant.
You can use papaya seeds instead if pepper, keeping them in a grinder & grinding them just as you would with peppercorns. They have a pepper-mustard flavor. Just remember that if left too long, you will have meat mush soup.
Also, to complete the information that I said on deworming, it is a minimum of 7, or up to 10 days for deworming, and you do the same in two weeks time, as for any dewormer.
I did read on another site that it will kill ecoli.
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Have you tried a green papaya salad?
It is a great refrigerator ferment and sooooo delicious!
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@LaurieLovesLearning thank you very much for this article. I have read it from the beginning to the end. There is so much there what I did not know about papaya seeds.
@monica197 no, I have never tried green papaya. Actually I have read that green papaya is somewhat poisonous if you do not cook it. Fermenting must also do the trick to make it safe and delicious. Could you tell how you make the green papaya salad?
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@LaurieLovesLearning Do you know whether papaya seeds could be given to animals against parasites? Cats, dogs, chicken? I am always not comfortable when I have to give a dog or a cat some chemistry when there are so many natural things around.
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chilling each overnight before combining has been important in keeping it from being too mushy
I have added other things like raisins and cranberries for a fruity taste - soooo good!
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DOGS:
Some sites say no papaya seeds, some say ground, but as the above site states, it gets rid of a high percentage of worms & eggs, but not everything. I am not sure if they did two treatments or only one.
A couple other sites claim that the seeds can cause intestinal blockage, and the seeds contain trace amounts of cyanide (which I didn't know).
CATS:
I read that the fruit is fine in moderate amounts (but naturally, cats don't eat papaya), but there us a concern about choking or intestinal blockage.
CHICKENS:
This says avoid yellow seeds, but the rest is safe (dry, grind into powder, dosage given). Crushed chilis or broadleaf plantain are good too. Pumpkin seeds are not high enough in the concentration of (whatever the component is called) to effectively kill the worms.
Another site said that the seeds are extremely dangerous & to avoid them, but I only found one like that, and the site doesn't appear to exist.
This study said that it was very effective:
Another study came to the conclusion that the powdered seeds are helpful.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7522964/
A big thumbs up for using a powdered form for treating worms & coccidioides:
https://wire.farmradio.fm/farmer-stories/togo-papaya-seeds-can-cure-chicken-diseases-spore-magazine/
http://kilimohaitz.blogspot.com/2018/04/pawpaw-seeds-can-cure-poultry-disease.html?m=1
COWS:
I didn't find anything, but you would probably need so much that it wouldn't be efficient.
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Crazy to think that this tropical fruit is so beneficial in so many ways to people and animals.
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@LaurieLovesLearning oh, thank you very much. You did a research on seeds! All in all, it seems that in moderation, one could use papaya seeds against parasites in domestic animals.
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@monica197 thank you for the recipe. Once I am back at home, I will try it out.
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great info on worms in pets - I am thinking that it would help with rabbits too based on this - I know papaya is great for motility in rabbits
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@monica197 I would check info on rabbits specifically. Pretty much everything can eat the fruit. The seed use advice was mixed, although erring on the side of, "it should be okay as long as..." and that was usually followed by advice to grind the seeds. You would also want to be sure of correct dosage for each size/weight of rabbit.
The deworming characteristic lies in the seed only, although the fibre of the fruit will help expel.
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@LaurieLovesLearning Thanks for the clarification Laurie - I don' think they would eat the seed anyway - my sweet doe is picky on her food, though she loves papaya flesh.
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