The internet is full of fabulous facts about everything from current events to the history basket weaving and papaya fun facts. As we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know.

We have decided when these fun facts pop up, that we would share them with our readers in our section titled “Did You Know?”

For today’s Did You Know we will look at Papaya Fun Facts

Papaya Fun Facts: The papaya is the fruit of the plant Carica papaya, and is one of the 22 accepted species in the genus Carica of the plant family Caricaceae.

  • The papaya tree can grow from seed to a 20 foot, fruit bearing tree in less than 18 months. The fruit can range in size from 1 to 20 pounds.
  • The exact origination of papaya is unknown but it is believed to be native to southern Mexico and neighboring Central America.
  • September is National Papaya Month.
  • The white powder sold as “Meat Tenderizer” is composed mainly of an enzyme extract from the papaya, called papain.
  • There are two types of papayas, the Hawaiian and Mexican.
  • Most people only eat the sweet delicious flesh, but you can also eat the small, black seeds in the center of the fruit. The seeds taste like black pepper. People in some countries use papaya seeds in place of black pepper corns.

Papaya Fun Facts We May Have Missed

Tell us about any Papaya Fun Facts we missed. We always love to add to these lists. If we can verify that the facts is just that, a fact, we will give the reader credit in the article.

Reference: Wikipedia facts about Papayas

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