# Does papaya always taste like ass? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 7, 2007, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-papaya-always-taste-like-ass/414800 "2007-08-07T21:47:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-papaya-always-taste-like-ass/414800/21 "2007-08-08T10:06:09Z")
I was ready to retort no, but then in the UK Tescos sell them prepacked with a lime, so I can’t really comment. ---
**Author:** ![Idlewild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8491ac/32.png) [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-papaya-always-taste-like-ass/414800/22 "2007-08-08T11:07:25Z")
There’s an awesome Thai green papaya salad called somtam. That’s really the best thing I took away from three years of studying the Thai language 😃 You shred your green papaya and add stuff - my teacher had a restaurant and her recipe basically involved minced birdseye chilis, lime juice in quantity, palm sugar, fish sauce, and crushed peanuts on top. Man, that was good. I still get cravings for it. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-papaya-always-taste-like-ass/414800/23 "2007-08-08T11:18:18Z")
Wait, are we talking paw-paw here? Man, I love that stuff. How can you have a fruit salad without paw-paw? ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-papaya-always-taste-like-ass/414800/24 "2007-08-08T11:28:39Z")
You’re eating it from the wrong end. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-papaya-always-taste-like-ass/414800/25 "2007-08-08T11:43:56Z")
[QUOTE=Idlewild] There’s an awesome Thai green papaya salad called somtam. That’s really the best thing I took away from three years of studying the Thai language 😃 You shred your green papaya and add stuff - my teacher had a restaurant and her recipe basically involved minced birdseye chilis, lime juice in quantity, palm sugar, fish sauce, and crushed peanuts on top. Man, that was good. I still get cravings for it. [/QUOTE] Yeah, this is the stuff. Tastes nothing like ass (although it might be redolent of dead fish), but you pound the hell out of it in a mortar, add lime juice and fish sauce, both which break down the fruit, plus sugar, chilis, peanuts, and in the “Isaarn” version they add little crabs and double or triple up the fish sauce. Awesome stuff, you typically eat with sticky rice. I had a Vietnamese version of this on Saturday just to compare. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t nearly as good, either. I think they just shread and add a few things. Note that these are both green papaya dishes, I don’t have much experience with the ripened version. Mangoes are the way to go there. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-papaya-always-taste-like-ass/414800/26 "2007-08-08T12:03:46Z")
[QUOTE=MrDibble] Wait, are we talking paw-paw here? Man, I love that stuff. How can you have a fruit salad without paw-paw? [/QUOTE] I don’t know. What we call pawpaw here in the Midwest perhaps rest of the US is not papaya, although it bears some superficial resemblance to it. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-papaya-always-taste-like-ass/414800/27 "2007-08-08T12:05:43Z")
So, what’s with all the papaya stands in [every other streetcorner in Manhattan](http://www.google.com/search?q=papaya+manhattan)? Do they grow them in greenhouses there? Fresh daily shipments from Hawaii? New Yorkers like the taste of ass? Something else? ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-papaya-always-taste-like-ass/414800/28 "2007-08-08T13:29:51Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] It’s really good dried/candied [/QUOTE] Agreed. Cantaloupe is pretty good that way too, although I found it a bit too sweet. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-papaya-always-taste-like-ass/414800/29 "2007-08-08T14:18:40Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] Wait until you try the papaya risotto [/QUOTE] _— golf clap —_ ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-papaya-always-taste-like-ass/414800/30 "2007-08-08T14:19:59Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] If you really want to hate papayas, wait until you try them on location, from a local. [/QUOTE] I agree. Then you can throw it straight back in the grower’s face. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-papaya-always-taste-like-ass/414800/31 "2007-08-08T14:23:06Z")
I’d say it tastes more like vomit than ass. But I still love it. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-papaya-always-taste-like-ass/414800/32 "2007-08-08T15:31:25Z")
[QUOTE=Sophistry and Illusion] Does papaya always taste like ass? [/QUOTE] After using, but before eating, remember to rinse your papaya well. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-papaya-always-taste-like-ass/414800/33 "2007-08-08T16:26:36Z")
The smell alone (just like vomit) is more than enough to keep me from tasting it. ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-papaya-always-taste-like-ass/414800/34 "2007-08-08T17:41:12Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] And how is it you know what “ass” tastes like? :dubious: [/QUOTE] I’m culinarily adventuresome. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-papaya-always-taste-like-ass/414800/35 "2007-08-08T22:58:12Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] It’s really good dried/candied [/QUOTE] Which? ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-papaya-always-taste-like-ass/414800/36 "2007-08-09T02:30:01Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] It’s really good dried/candied [/QUOTE] Is this the source of the term “candy ass”? ---
**Author:** ![Lama\_Pacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Lama\_Pacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lama_Pacos)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-papaya-always-taste-like-ass/414800/37 "2007-08-09T02:33:08Z")
Papaya is such a cruel joke. It looks delicious and tropicaltastic, yet always tastes like baby diapers. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-papaya-always-taste-like-ass/414800/38 "2007-08-09T02:54:21Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] And how is it you know what “ass” tastes like? :dubious: [/QUOTE] I think most people who have been sexually active for a while and aren’t totally squeamish prudes know what ass tastes like. ---
**Author:** ![Joools](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6de8d8/32.png) [@Joools](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joools)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-papaya-always-taste-like-ass/414800/39 "2007-08-09T03:56:29Z")
Gotta disagree with you all here: papaya tastes like feet. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-papaya-always-taste-like-ass/414800/40 "2007-08-09T09:34:24Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell] I don’t know. What we call pawpaw here in the Midwest perhaps rest of the US is not papaya, although it bears some superficial resemblance to it. [/QUOTE] What I can see in the [Wiki article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papaya) looks like what I’d call paw-paw, down to the mass of black seeds in the middle cavity. Certainly nothing like [this description](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawpaw) . [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-papaya-always-taste-like-ass/414800.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-papaya-always-taste-like-ass/414800.md?page=3)