For a long time, dishes made from papaya fruit, leaves, and flowers... have been known and loved by many people. However, not many people know about using the core of the papaya tree as food.
Recently, Ms. Le Tinh (born in 1987, Ha Tinh) made the community of people who love growing clean vegetables at home "open their eyes" with a dish that, according to her, costs a lot of rice in the winter. That dish is pickled papaya root.
Talking to VietNamNet, Ms. Tinh said: "I was born and raised in Quang Binh. Since I was little, I have seen my grandparents and parents make this dish to eat. The sour, crunchy taste of pickled papaya root is very special, much tastier than radish. If anyone cannot eat the bitter taste of flowers and leaves, pickled papaya stem is a great choice. Because pickling it is only delicious, not bitter at all."
The way to make pickled papaya is similar to making other pickled vegetables. The ingredients are simple and easy to find: the stem, roots of the papaya tree and white salt.
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According to Ms. Tinh, when pickling, you should choose the large roots and the solid base of the papaya tree, not the young hollow part above. "The older the papaya tree, the more delicious it is. The solid part is more delicious than the hollow part above," Ms. Tinh revealed.
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Use a knife to peel off the hard outer skin of the papaya stem and roots, then cut them into circles. Wash the core and cut it into matchbox-sized squares.
Next, Ms. Tinh mixes the sliced papaya with coarse salt, arranges it in a jar/pot, and presses it down. Boil a pot of salt water, let it cool, and then pour it over the jar. After about 7-10 days of salting, the papaya can be eaten. Ms. Tinh follows the recipe of her "ancestors", so there is no specific ratio of salt and papaya. But according to her, the amount of salt used will be more than when salting pickled cabbage, because thickly sliced papaya is harder to absorb. "If you accidentally add too much salt and it is too salty, before using the papaya to cook, you should slice it and rinse it with water to reduce the saltiness immediately."
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After being pickled, the finished papaya is kept in a jar or pot with water to eat all year round. Because the papaya tree is large, the amount of papaya pickled each time is quite large, Ms. Tinh shares it with her neighbors and relatives. The rest she takes out, washes and stores in the refrigerator to eat gradually.
"Pickled papaya is used to braise fish, braise meat, make salads, stir-fries... all very delicious. If I braise fish, I put in the pot a layer of sliced papaya, a layer of pork belly, a layer of fish, and then add a layer of papaya on top. Then add seasonings to taste, chili, add enough water to cover and braise. In the cold winter, having papaya braised with fish is very delicious," said Ms. Tinh.
Ms. Tinh's post about pickled papaya on social media quickly attracted the attention of the online community, with tens of thousands of views, comments and shares.
Most people were surprised by this unique dish. Some people were skeptical, thinking that Ms. Tinh wrote the article to attract views and likes. However, many people shared that their grandparents and parents had also made pickled papaya when they were children.
Account Nguyen Khac Son commented: "Pickled papaya root with fish sauce will make your rice pot explode. You should try it."
"That dish from the old days. When the storm came and all the trees fell, we had to cut them down and divide them into pieces for each person to stir-fry. It was almost like eating bamboo shoots," commented Thao Le.
"Childhood dish. In the past, my family had a papaya tree. In 1989, there was a big storm and the papaya tree fell. The fruits, big and small, were harvested and divided into several parts for each family, and each person had a piece of the tree. I remember my mother cutting it into slices and burying it in the ash stove all day, then washing it and then salting it. Back then, it was so delicious when we ate it during the flood, but it's been so long that I've forgotten the taste," shared a Chinese account.
"I just asked my dad. He said that in the past, papaya that fell due to storms was a job. They sliced it thinly, dried it, and then ate it like dried bamboo shoots," Ha An commented.
Many people joked: "This year is truly a disaster for the papaya tree, from the flowers to the top, now the roots are eaten away. This is the 82nd calamity of the papaya and chicken this year."
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Photo: NVCC
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