Babaco
About Babaco[]
A papaya hybrid that is torpedo shaped and has 5 flattened facets. The skin, which is edible, turns from green to golden yellow depending on level of ripeness.
Wikipedia Article About Babaco on Wikipedia
The Babaco (Vasconcellea ×heilbornii; synonym Carica pentagona), is a hybrid cultivar in the genus Vasconcellea from Ecuador. It can grow at high altitudes (over 2,000 m), and is the most cold-tolerant species of the Papaya relatives.
It is a small unbranched or sparsely branched tree reaching 5-8 m tall. The fruit differs from the papaya (C. papaya) in being narrower, typically less than 10 cm in diameter.
Like the papaya, the babaco is grown for its edible fruit and for its fruit juice. Cultivation away from its native range has been successful as far south as New Zealand, and north to Guernsey.
Preparing Babaco[]
Store the green, unripe fruit at room temperature, where it will ripen within a week. The fruit is ripe when entirely yellow, or almost all yellow.
Cut the fruit crosswise into thick slices to show the star shape. Sprinkle lightly with sugar, honey, or other sweetener and serve chilled. Babaco is a good addition to ice cream, or it can be blended into drinks with other fruits.
Cooking Babaco[]
Babaco makes a tasty barbecue sauce and marinade. Puree a ripe Babaco along with some brown sugar, wine vinegar, ketchup, pepper, salt or soy sauce, and garlic.
The high papain content of Babaco makes it an excellent meat tenderizer.