Back home in India, we had papaya & fig trees in our backyard. They ripen best on trees. But the plantain banana fruit could be harvested green, and it will ripen inside a warm room. We always bought Alphonse mangoes green, placed them in dry straw inside a very warm room, and it is the best fruit I have ever tasted after ripe.
Thai shredded green papaya salads.
That’s a lot of salad you’ve got there.
My wife would make green papaya salad. Lots of chilies ad fish sauce being prime ingredients. It tastes good but the ingredients might push some off.
“They don’t have a decent piece of fruit at the supermarket. The apples are mealy, the oranges are dry... I don’t know what’s going on with the papayas!”
- Kramer, in “The Mango”
Sell it to your local whole foods type store.
The fully green ones are not going to ripen :(
The ones that have some yellow on the will though.
You can always freeze some of the ones that ripen for smoothies . In Miami they make milkshakes and ice cream with the ripe ones .
How high was the wind that blew the trees over?
Yes ferment them imediatly.
You can do this.
Since you have so much, I recommend making green papaya chutney for bottling, and give the bottles as gifts. It needs to be stored for at least a month before eating, so put a “Do not eat before 00/00/00, for best flavor” on the bottle.
1.5kg (3.3 lb) green papaya, peeled and cut into cubes
60g (heaping 2 oz) fresh ginger, peeled and grated
6 garlic cloves, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chili flakes
2 cups castor sugar
1 cup cider vinegar
5 black peppercorns
10 cardamon pods
1 bay leaf
Place papaya, ginger, garlic, onion, salt, chili and sugar in a pot. Cover and stand overnight in the fridge.
The next day, cook over a medium heat until thickened, about one hour.
Add vinegar, peppercorns, cardamom pods and bay leaf.
Bring back to the boil, allow to cool slightly then pour into sterilized jars.
Again, keep for one month before eating.
My wife knows a green papaya salad recipe, that may or may not be the same as the Thai recipes mentioned already. What I know for sure is that it uses vinegar to preserve the ingredients for a good long time. She is from the Philippines, so look for the recipe from a list of Philippine recipes.