Papaya Peppercorns

I love eating papaya. I have it with yogurt, in smoothies, and with lime and salt. But until now, I have thrown out the seeds. One day I decided to see if there are any health benefits to papaya seeds: there are numerous of them. So here I go again searching online, this time on ways to use those seeds. Now I know they taste peppery, therefore using them in a salad dressing was not surprising. I can across a couple of them that dried the papaya seeds to make into peppercorns. WHAT! Yes peppercorns. I was a bit thrown off by the time it took to dry the seed though...one site said overnight. No way I was leaving my oven on all night. So I can up with me version.  You probably have to adjust slightly the baking time based on your oven. But you can tell when it is done because they are hard as a (say it with me) peppercorn. Here are the instructions:

Seeds from a papaya


1. Set your oven to 250 degrees.

2. Cut the papaya the long way.

3. With a spoon slowly and gently scrape the seeds off the papaya and into a baking pan (no oil).  This procedure will ensure that you do not scrape some of the flesh with the seeds. If you do have a little, it o.k. The flesh will dry in the oven.

4. Spread the seeds throughout the pan and put it in the oven for 10 minutes.

5. After this time, shake the pan to rotate the seeds. Some seeds will get stuck to the pan. Don't worry, used a spatula to free them. 

6.  Bake the seeds for 15 more minutes. The seeds should be hard as peppercorns by now. If not, add  5 more minutes to your cooking time. That should do it.

7. Fill a pepper mill with your seeds and enjoy.

Research has found that papaya seeds are effective against E. coli, Salmonella, and Staph infections. Research has also found that papaya seed extract may protect the kidneys from toxin-induced kidney failure. There is evidence that papaya seeds eradicate intestinal parasites. In a study done on Nigerian children with intestinal parasites, 76.7% of the children were parasite-free after seven days of treatment with papaya seeds compared to only 16.7% of the children who received a placebo. In Chinese medicine, it is believed that a teaspoon of papaya seeds will help detoxify the liver. Papaya seeds are often recommended by natural doctors in the treatment of cirrhosis of the liver.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/543510-the-nutritional-value-of-papaya-seeds/