Tropical Papaya Salad

I must admit that I have never been a huge fan of papaya in the past. The ones that are sold in my local grocery stores are usually rock hard and even when they finally do ripen seem to have very little taste. Our local farmer’s market had a huge selection of ripe papaya recently and I just had to buy one as they looked so pretty and now I must admit am a convert! I spoke with the farmer who told me that papaya can have a very subtle sweet flavor and recommended that I squeeze on lots of lime juice which really enhances the flavor of ripe papaya. Not being entirely familiar with this tropical fruit, I looked it up on the internet when I came home and was amazed at how healthy it truly is. Papaya fruit is packed with numerous nutrients, and is one of the favorites of fruit lovers for its nutritional, digestive, and medicinal properties. The papaya fruit is very low in calories and contains no cholesterol, and is a rich source of phyto-nutrients, minerals, and vitamins.

I bought a really big papaya, so I decided I needed to use it for a few different recipes and in fact I made a papaya salad, a tropical salsa, and a tasty tropical fruit smoothie with my one (big) papaya. This salad was really delicious and I did as I was told and used lots of lime juice which really made the flavors pop. I kept my salad simple using just papaya, mango, avocado, and green onions, but you could add tomatoes, red peppers, pineapples, and red onions in place of the green ones I used if you prefer. You could add a grilled chicken breast to this salad creating an entire meal, or simply enjoy it as a tropical side dish or first course salad.

• Low in calories, cholesterol free, papaya is a rich source of phyto-nutrients, minerals, dietary fiber, and vitamins.
•  Mangoes are high in fiber, Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Vitamin E, Potassium, Copper and Vitamin A.
• Avocados provide nearly 20 essential vitamins and minerals: potassium, folic acid and other B-vitamins, as well as vitamins E and K. They also contain phytonutrients, believed to help prevent many chronic diseases.
• Avocados contain the mono- and polyunsaturated “good” fats that are recommended as part of a healthy diet.