Forkable Food Fixations: Papaya Seeds

I always find myself becoming obsessed with a new food which I then shove into every recipe I make. Last winter it was toasting spices in oil, recently I've been putting sumac into everything from soups to on top of my bagels. While doing research for our Polynesian meal, I discovered the amazing properties of the papaya seed. And now... I'm hooked.

"What can you use papaya seeds for", you ask? Well, lets show you in a bulleted list. Papaya seeds:

• make a great meat tenderizer,
• have been used as a pepper substitute by various Southeast Asian cultures for thousands of years,
• can help you eradicate any intestinal parasites you may have (nice!)
• apparently have proven scientific effects for and when used as a male contraceptive**
• or make a salad dressing for a more pedestrian approach
  

**Ok, well only proven on monkeys and mice, but still. Interesting.

Crunching into a fresh seed releases a tart bitter flavor which is nice and fresh especially with the mellow sweet papaya flavor of the pulpy flesh surrounding the hard inner core. Its so good, I've been integrating into all my sample recipes for our Polynesian fest.


papaya seeds used as a tenderizer on striped bass ceviche and for a leg of goat.

I remember back when I found the slimy seeds to be an annoyance when cutting into a ripe papaya, but now, I've been buying the fruit just for the seeds. Now the question is what can I do with all this left over fruit??