GIANT PAPAYA ‘Carica Papaya Formosa’

The fruit is papaya, a large rounded or ovoid berry that can weigh up to 10 kg. It has a yellowish-yellow color and contains an orange-colored pulp, full of mucillin-covered black seeds.
Papaya is a tropical fruit, appreciated all over the world for its flavor, juicy and refreshing, halfway between apricot and melon. Papaya can be eaten raw, cooked as a basic ingredient to prepare preserves and jams or to give, by fermentation, a kind of spirits.

From the nutritional point of view, fruit is a good source of antioxidants, thanks to good lycopene content and Vitamin A, C and E. Discreet also the presence of folate, fiber and potassium.
Papaya is not only cultivated for its fruits, but also, extensively, to extract latex containing proteolytic enzymes, particularly papain and chamomile, which have many uses. Papain production is highest in plants of one year, then decreases significantly in subsequent years. Papain is used in the pharmaceutical industry for intestinal, digestive, antiparasitic drugs, favoring protein absorption, and anti-inflammatory.