Papaya isn’t only a powerhouse of vitamins and antioxidants — it is also extremely easy to grow in your own garden. Ok, ok, you did your homework and you know the theory already. But how do you make your papaya’s benefits work for you? You can’t just eat raw it like a barbarian, right?

Actually, you can. But if you think you can do better than that, find the NatureHub Papaya Society’s favorite recipes below.

Let’s dive in!

Super easy papaya meals

Som Tam (Thai papaya salad)

Peel, deseed, and shred a small papaya. Then, crush 6 garlic cloves and add 4 long beans, a teaspoon of chili flakes, and 8 pre-cut cherry tomatoes and pound them a bit to release juice. Add 3 table spoons of peanuts.

For the sweet-sour-spicy sauce, dissolve 1 tablespoon of sugar in 2 tablespoons of fish or soy sauce and 2 tablespoons of lime juice.

Mix all the ingredients and enjoy!

Stir-fried papaya

Peel, seed, and cut a papaya. Boil it in 1 cup of water with a pinch of turmeric and salt until the fruit’s soft.

Heat the oil (ideally, coconut) and put 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds, a couple of crushed onions, 2 cloves of minced garlic, and a few chilly flakes. Once you the spices start giving a nice flavor, add the papaya and stir-fry for 5 minutes. Serve over rice or quinoa.

Papaya drinks

Papaya smoothie

In a blender, mix a cup of papaya and a frozen banana. Add some berries of your choice, almond milk and a half of a teaspoon of honey. Pronto!

Papaya lassi

Blend 1 cup of fresh papaya, 1/2 cup of yogurt, 1/2 cup of any milk of your choice, 1 tablespoon of honey, and a pinch of cardamom.

Papaya deserts

Papaya jam

Blend a ripe papaya and mix it with 1/4 cup of sugar and some lemon juice. Heat mixture in a saucepan and keep mixing until it’s thick. Store in an airtight, sterilized glass container for up to a year in a fridge.

Papaya yogurt bowl

Deseed and hollow out the center of a papaya half. Put there some yogurt, fresh berries, nuts, granola, honey, and any other toppings of your choice!

Papaya for skincare

Smash or grate some papaya and put the mixture on the face directly. Leave for 15 minutes and rinse. Perfect for acne-prone, rough, and mature skin.

Pro-tip: wipe your face with the fleshy side of the skin from a ripe papaya after cooking it, and then rinse. Because #zerowaste.

These food, drinks, and skincare papaya recipes are super simple and require minimum skills and ingredients, but feel free to experiment. Let us know all about your papaya masterpieces (or mishaps) in the comments!

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