There are two types of papaya, male papaya and female papaya. Female papaya is a flowering and fruiting plant, while male papaya has no fruit but only flowers that bloom in clusters all year round. A flower has five white or green-yellow petals and a long stem. For a long time, male papaya flowers have been used to make many medicinal herbs by the Thai people. Male papaya flowers help reduce cough, hoarseness, or sore throat; while dried leaves and young buds can be used as a drink to help detoxify the liver effectively. In addition, local people use papaya flowers to prepare delicious and attractive dishes.

Quang Thi Bien in Ca hamlet, Chieng An ward, Son La city said that there is no standard recipe for mixing herbs and spices in papaya flower salad. The cook is free to choose spices for the salad, as long as they are suitable and the dish has a harmonious flavour.

Papaya flower salad is mixed with banana flowers, cassava leaves, young papaya leaves, and wild eggplant. The ingredients are cleaned and boiled to ease the bitter. Then the ingredients are chopped finely, mixed with garlic and ‘phat ban’ leaves (‘chat’ leaves), lemongrass roots, coriander leaves and roasted peanuts. The salad has a slightly bitter taste, mixed with the slight sweetness of ‘phat ban’ leaves, along with the aroma of garlic, the buttery taste of peanuts, banana flowers, and cassava leaves.

Papaya flowers stir-fried with garlic is simpler to prepare. After picking flowers, remove the stems, keeping the buds and ivory petals. Then boil the flowers for about 10 minutes, take them out, rinse with cold water, and squeeze out the excess water. Fry garlic, add the flowers, stir gently, and add a little chili, monosodium glutamate, and lemongrass. Finishing, the papaya flowers are soft and fragrant with a strong scent of garlic and chili. They are no longer pungent and bitter, but turn buttery. Stir-fried papaya flowers will be more delicious when being rolled with ‘phat ban’ leaves.

Male papaya flowers are also eaten freshly by the Thai people along with other types of vegetables that grow naturally in the forest, around fields, and in gardens, such as goose grass, ginger leaves, ‘phat ban’ leaves, Erythropalum scandens, Piper sarmentosum, ginger flowers, etc. The dish is served with ‘thua o’ (fermented soybeans).

Nowadays, papaya flowers have not only become a familiar dish in the daily meals of many families, but restaurants and eateries have included dishes made from papaya flowers in their menus to introduce to tourists. The bitter taste of papaya flowers and the sweetness of vegetables and fruits resemble human love, making them remember it forever once trying.