One of the great things about living in Bali is the availability of fresh fruit.
When I moved into my new house in February I noticed I had a papaya tree with some young fruit hanging off it. Watching them slowly get larger and take on an orange pigment made me excited to finally chop one down.
The other day at the bbq Wayan#2 commented that I should do this quickly as the papayas get a bad taste when thery are too ripe. I accepted her advice but am aware the Balinese prefer unripe papaya for eating with a sauce or salt.
Today I decided to hack a couple off to see how they were. Grabbing Wayan from outside I showed her how to use the camera and went to work with my knife. The papaya stems are soft and the knife slid straight through.
In all I cut the 2 larger and 1 smaller ripe papayas off leaving the 2 small green ones for later. I handed the 2 larger ones to Wayan as I knew I’d only waste them if I kept them. The Balinese are great at sharing out extra food and the other day Putu cleaned out the old rice from my pot to feed to her pig.
Coming out of the house sometime later I ran into both Wayan’s a a few other people getting into one of them with the aid of a parang ( curved machete). I ate some too and it was almost ripe. I’ll wait a few days more to eat my small one.
Thunder clouds overhead today and an evening shower is on the cards.
{ 17 comments }
G’Day Nick,
Geez mate, you look like an native chopping down the papaya!. Oh how I envy you. Papaya is my favourite fruit and to buy them here in Perth is expensive. Would you believe around AUD$5 each!.
You should export them to me and then I’ll flog ‘em on the highway during rush hour!
Very good for Bali Belly too.
Hi Jen,
Never knew that. I have always eaten Salak for the belly whenever ye ‘ol Immodium ain’t available.
I was checking around online and papaya is somewhat of a wonder fruit.
http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/papaya.html
The Balinese also suggested coconut including the milk for Bali Belly, which to me seems strange as coconuts are oily, but they swear by it.
Papaya is totally the wonder fruit..when I was in Zanzibar, this guy was showing us that it had over 40 medicinal uses. I especially found amusing that it was both useful for encouraging…ummm, regularity as well as stopping the nasty effect of ‘the runs’. My husband however can’t stand the fruit, he says it tastes like, “cheap hair perm”…that’s enough to keep me from consuming it too often. Have you found jackfruit there?
Yep, good for upset stomachs. I had a terribly upset stomach, not so much the “runs” just a bloated feeling when pregnant in Bali.. Not the usual pregnant bloat, just a crampy bloat (gassy) feeling.
I was given crushed papaya seeds in a young coconut milk mashed up to drink twice a day, within 24hrs I was fine.
I have also heard it works wonders with the belly & also constipation…
AMAZING hey!!!!
Definately Jackfruit available in Bali!!!!
I love salak too Bazza!
Also the large passionfruit from Bali, is too die for! & I think another one called mangosteen???
i would happily kill for a mangosteen…..
Hi Bali Bros/Sisters/
Yes i agree with all your comments regs tropical fruits…..Barrie i have Guava Papaya..Mango often…..but b4 you get jealous its usually in a carton mate…still nice though. Barrie i thought tropical fruits would be cheap in Perth mate…i mean i know you get a winter but you also get a bloody long summer mate…surely hot enought to grow the tropicanas mate…..Anyway the best part about the fresh tropical produce of Bali folks apart from hangover cure is the stuff that causes hangovers…the luuuuuvvvveelllly cocktails mate…wow can i go through some of these cocktails when i get started. Theres some nice cocktails Bars in London i frequent(too often) and end up spending a small fortune trying out something new every time.£5-£7 price here . Whats the deal in Bali…i suppose its the same as here depends on the Bar, location , time etc.
I like the old happy hours folks. Nick have you bought some cocktail shakers for your ever growing BBQ/P**** ? yES JUST DANDY EH NICE FOOD UNDER A LOVELY bALI EVENING rounded off by some nice experimental cocktails(usually end up lethal) Yes Nick i think you have hit on a great idea with the regular bbqs as it a great way of bringing people together(the right people and not a house of pisssed up arse holes who have no respect for the place and usually end up fighting next to the hot bbq getting scolded and ruin the ambience)
No danger with that with you Nick as i suppose you pick your guests through your ever increasing experience of dealing with people.
Let the party roll eh….
Smiling
nick, saya minta papayanya dong…
Geez, you learn something every day eh. Papaya for the infamous Bali belly. It keeps me ‘regular’, but as I said, I never knew it was good for the belly.
Nick, boiled rice water is great for the BB. I was down on the coast with Candika in a village called Parangtritis in Java once and there were 2 old ladies splitting coconuts with machettes. They commented on the medicinal purposes of coconut milk. I’ve omly used it for cooking!
Hi Ayu F,
Aku juga!
The papaya fruit and leaf, can be used as meat tenderizer too. So be careful Nick. Don’t eat tooooo much papaya or your “meat” might get tender from the papain enzyme.
YEEEEEEEOUUCCCHHHH!
OOOH, Nick you don’t wanna get stuck with a flacid snag once you finally meet MISS RIGHT!!!!
Stop eating the Papaya leaf & fruit!!
Hey Tracey,
There’s always jamu that Nick could fall back on should the occasion arise (or not rise!)
Ebong thank you! That must of been the problem this whole time, too much papaya.
Hi Nick,
Me, My wife & our five old doughter next august 17, 2004 will visit Bali till september probably about one month or more (actually I’m an Indonesian (sumatran) which more and less six years ago was living in Bali (kuta) and my wife an Slovenian (ex-Yugoslavia)) since than I living in Slovenia for about six years now in never back home, so lot’s of new things going on in Bali and I don’t know about it, so maybe you can give me some informations about it specially about BALI SANDAT INN II, Benesari street (update information ofcourse). Thank!
So, when we arrive in Bali next august maybe we can know each other personaly, Ok!
Thank’s again and lot’s of LUCK for you.
So sorry I have broken english and I hope you anderstan me.
Inal, Silvana & Rosana
These back-and-forth comments are fun to read.
I wish I could write as well in another language as you do in English - Inal, Silvana & Rosana.
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