Papaya Bread
It was when we were on our family vacation in Belize in March that I made the discovery that I love Papayas. The Papayas in Belize were so much better than the ones you would normally get here in Canada. They were big and juicy and delicious.
A few weeks after we got home, I was wandering through the grocery looking for ways to waste money (as I am wont to do) when I saw a lovely huge Papaya with a sticker "product of Belize". They were still very green but I adopted three of them and took them home to sit on my kitchen counter. I lovingly turned them (and squeezed them and smelled them) every day for a week until finally, I deemed them ripe enough to eat. They were good. I ate them morning noon and night. I ran out, I went back to the store, I bought more.... and so on.
At some point during this time, I started to notice some stomach discomfort. It would often happen at the gym when I was running on the treadmill.... I thought I might be allergic to the gym (was hoping). But no, sadly, I eventually made a connection with the Papaya, which I would eat in large quantities for dessert, before I went to the gym.
Anyway, all this to provide a preamble to my Papaya Bread recipe because I needed a way to deal with the two Papayas I still had, which I was now afraid to eat. I did take a chance and try a small bit of the bread. It was delicious and moist, and it didn't give me cramps! My kids and Mario LOVED this recipe, but that's too bad for them, because I'm not buying anymore Papayas.
Papaya Bread (Cramp Free)
adapted from Astray Recipes
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe Papaya
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins
1 1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1. Cream sugar with butter until light.
2. Add eggs and beat until fluffy.
3. Mix in Papaya, nuts and raisins.
4. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, allspice and ginger. Add this to the butter mixture.
5. Pour batter into greased loaf pan. Bake at 325F for 1 hour 10 minutes.
