For you gringos, papaya rhymes with Medalla, a popular beer on the island. I don't usually drink beer when I'm eating papaya: the beer is there to show scale.
There are lots of varieties of papaya here, but these are probably descendant of the Mexican type. Our neighbor has a few papaya trees, and lets us take what we want. The big one in the picture is 17 inches long.
We're big fans of papaya, either as a snack, or made into a smoothie.
Here's a smoothie recipe:
2 cups chopped peeled papayas
1 cup mango
1 ripe banana
1/2 cup yogurt
1 tablespoon honey
juice of 1/2 lemon or lime
ice
Mix in a blender until smooth.
