Pepaya (Papaya)
The Spanish introduced these to the East from Central America, and now they grow everywhere, both wild and cultivated. The flesh, with its orange-pink colour and rather bland sweetness, is certainly very agreeable to eat, though I think one can grow tired of it. The leaves and flowers, however, are more interesting. The male flowers are good for Urap, and the young leaves are better still; Javanese urap daun kates is well worth trying. Burkill says the flowers, fruit and leaves contain papain, which helps to tenderize meat and has many medicinal properties. He doesn;t mention, however, that the juice of young leaves can be drunk as a prophylactic against malaria if quinine is unavailable. At any rate, that is what we did during the War, though I daresay it was just the unpleasantly bitter taste of the juice that made us think it must be good for us.
