I wrote last week on how I grow papaya (and other edibles) out of their natural range. One thing we often face is having an abundance of unripe fruit at frost time. As the days get colder it takes longer and longer for the fruit to ripen… and eventually, I just have to harvest it all and “make do.”
Fortunately, there are multiple uses for green papaya. My friend Josh who runs the experimental gardens at H.E.A.R.T. just posted a new video on green papaya and why it should be placed squarely in the upper ranks of survival foods:
The fruit is pleasant as a vegetable. We tried it as a pasta substitute, per Josh’s recommendation, and it was delicious. I don’t eat wheat or many grains, based on the excellent research of Mark Sisson, so finding a decent stand-in for spaghetti was a treat.
One note: if you’re a pregnant woman, stay away from green papaya – it’s not recommended for people who are carrying other, smaller people inside them.
It’s possible to grow papaya as an annual even further north than Florida – and much further north if you have a greenhouse or don’t mind lugging pots in and out of doors. The plants grow like rockets in warm weather and produce fruit amazingly fast.
Just one more option to throw out the prepper table.