One Papaya, Two Amazing Salad Dressings

 
I eat papaya as often as I can and you should too. The fruit is such a blessing to our digestive system. Research shows that the nutrients in papaya not only help us digest our food, they help prevent cancer of the colon. The fiber in papaya has the ability to bind to cancerogenic toxins in the colon and keep them away form the healthy cells. Moreover, vitamins C and E, folate, and beta-carotene act in synergy to protect the DNA and reduce the risk of colon cancer.

The seeds of papaya contain high amounts of proteolytic enzymes that help us digest complex proteins. In many cultures they are used to rid the digestive tract from parasites and to improve liver function. They also have antibacterial properties and are believed to help people who suffer from liver cirrhosis. 

Papaya has many other health benefits so eat it as often as you can.


I created this two wonderfully tasting salad dressings that will not only dress your salad, but also help you digest it. Enjoy!

~ Papaya Seed Vinaigrette ~

This is a money-saving recipe. Like many other people I used to throw the black papaya seeds away, but once I heard about the Hawaiian papaya seed salad dressing I decided to create my own. 

Papaya seeds have a nice, peppery "green" taste that reminds me of nasturtium. My papayas had many seeds and I used them all.

Depending on how many seeds your papaya has you might need more than one fruit or you can simply use less seeds if you are making this dressing for the first time and are not ready for surprises. 

Ingredients:
  • 3/4 cup papaya seeds
  • 1/2 virgin olive oil
  • 2 Tbsp Bragg's apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp pink Himalaya salt

Method:
  • Place all the ingredients in your blender and process on a high speed until you receive a nicely grainy vinaigrette. Depending on how "peppery" your papaya seeds are, you may want to add a bit more salt or vinegar.
This peppery-green tasting vinaigrette is wonderful with mild lettuces such as iceberg, Boston, endive, red oak leaf lettuce, or baby spinach.

Papaya Seed Dressing

~ Creamy Papaya Salad Dressing ~

Papaya has a very particular taste and poses a slight challenge here. I wanted a dressing that had  great texture and tasted like a salad dressing and not like a papaya smoothie. It had to have a fruity taste, but should not be too overwhelming. I first blended ripe papaya with grape seed oil and salt and tasted it to find out what else needed to end up in the blender. Here is the final list of ingredients. You may want to experiment some more and come up with entirely different dressing. The kitchen belongs to you!

Ingredients:
  • 3/4 cup ripe papaya flesh
  • 1/2 cup cold pressed grape seed oil
  • juice of 1/2 half orange
  • 2 Tbsp mustard
  • 2 Tbsp mild honey
  • 1 Tbsp Bragg's apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tsp hot chili pepper
  • 1/2 tsp pink Himalaya salt

Method:
  • Place all the ingredients in a blender and process on high speed until you receive a nice and creamy dressing. 
This dressing is best on spicy greens such as arugula, watercress, Belgian endive and radicchio; wild herbs such as dandelion, pimpernel, sorrel, or violet leaves; as well as crunchy cabbages and kale.

As always, my recipes are here to open a door to your own creativity and experimentation. Use your intuition to add other ingredients or to change the proportions I suggested here. And whatever you do, enjoy it!

In radiant health,  passionately raw - Dominique

Dominique Allmon ©2013

Papaya Seed Dressing