Papaya flesh is eaten, both when young and ripe. Young flesh is cooked as a vegetable. Ripe pulp is eaten fresh or as a fruit cocktail mixture. Papaya is also used leaves as a vegetable and meat tenderizer. Young papaya leaves are eaten as fresh vegetables after being wilted with hot water or used as wrappers for buntil. By Indonesians, anointed papaya flowers are commonly eaten vegetables. Papaya sap found in the stems, leaves, and fruit contains the enzyme papain, a protease, which can soften the flesh and change the conformation of other proteins. Papain has been mass produced and has become a commercial commodity.
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