Papaya Pudding — a soft, coral-coloured tropical cream

i. Origin & history

The papaya (Carica papaya) is native to southern Mexico and Central America, and Spanish and Portuguese traders carried it across the tropics in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries — to the Caribbean, Brazil, the Philippines, India and beyond. It grows fast and fruits year-round, so in warm countries it is one of the cheapest and most common fruits, eaten for breakfast with lime, blended into drinks and turned into sweets. It is called papaya in Spanish and English, mamão or papaia in Portuguese, and in parts of the Caribbean pawpaw.

Papaya desserts come in many forms. In Brazil, creme de papaia — ripe papaya blended with vanilla ice cream and served in a glass with a drizzle of crème de cassis — is a classic restaurant dessert, and green papaya is candied into doce de mamão. In the Caribbean, papaya is cooked into jams and sweet preserves and blended with milk into drinks. In Hawaii, where papayas grow abundantly, papaya puddings, breads and chiffon pies were common in mid-twentieth-century island cookbooks, often alongside coconut.

Set fruit creams of this kind spread with the use of gelatine in home kitchens in the twentieth century, when powdered gelatine made 'fruit whips' and chilled puddings easy everywhere. The papaya version, however, needed an adjustment: cooks learned — often after a failed batch — that raw papaya, like raw pineapple, will not set with gelatine.

Papaya pudding is a cousin of other milk puddings on DessertCat such as the Levantine malabi and Indian phirni, and of the tropical creams of the Philippines and Brazil, including buko pandan and quindim.

ii. Why raw papaya stops gelatine setting

Papaya contains papain, a protein-digesting enzyme — the same substance sold as a meat tenderiser. Gelatine is itself a protein, made of long collagen-derived chains that tangle together as they cool to form a gel. Papain cuts those chains into fragments that can no longer link up, so a pudding made with raw papaya and gelatine stays a thick liquid however long it chills. Papain also attacks milk proteins, and left too long it can make a milky papaya mixture taste slightly bitter. Pineapple, kiwi, fresh figs and mango contain similar enzymes for the same reason.

Ripe papaya contains much less papain than green papaya, which is why a ripe-papaya smoothie tastes fine, but there is usually still enough to ruin a gelatine set. The answer is heat. Enzymes are proteins too, and cooking denatures them: simmering the papaya purée for a few minutes, until it bubbles, inactivates the papain completely. After that, the cooked purée can be combined with milk and gelatine like any other fruit.

Cooking also concentrates the flavour slightly and deepens the colour, and the papaya's natural pectin thickens the purée a little. Because papaya is low in acid, lime juice is added after cooking, to brighten the flavour that can otherwise taste flat or faintly musky.

If you prefer not to cook the fruit, there are two alternatives: set the pudding with agar, a seaweed-based gelling agent that is a carbohydrate rather than a protein and so is not affected by papain, or thicken it with cornflour, which also requires boiling.

iii. Ingredients

Makes 6 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust

• 450 g ripe papaya flesh, seeded and chopped
• 90 g caster sugar
• 10 g powdered gelatine
• 3 tbsp cold water
• 250 ml whole milk
• 150 ml double cream or full-fat coconut milk
• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1 tsp finely grated lime zest
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ⅛ tsp fine salt
• 2 tbsp toasted coconut or passion-fruit pulp, to serve

Choose a papaya that is fully ripe: deep yellow-orange skin, soft to the touch like a ripe avocado, with a sweet, floral smell. Red-fleshed varieties such as Formosa or Maradol give a vivid coral pudding; Hawaiian Solo papayas give a sweeter, golden one. Remove every seed and the pale fibres around them, which are bitter. Coconut milk in place of cream gives a Caribbean or Hawaiian flavour. For a vegetarian pudding, replace the gelatine with 2 g (about 1 tsp) agar powder, boiled with the milk for 2 minutes.

iv. Method

1. Sprinkle the gelatine over the cold water in a small bowl and leave to swell for 5 minutes.
2. Blend the papaya with the sugar until completely smooth. Pour into a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring, then let it bubble gently for 3 minutes. This inactivates the papain enzyme.
3. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the swollen gelatine until completely dissolved, about 1 minute.
4. Stir in the milk, cream, lime zest, vanilla and salt. Leave to cool for 10 minutes, then stir in the lime juice. Taste, adding a little more sugar or lime if needed.
5. For the smoothest texture, pour through a sieve into a jug, pressing it through with a spatula.
6. Pour into 6 glasses or ramekins, cover and chill for at least 4 hours, or overnight, until softly set with a gentle wobble.
7. Serve topped with toasted coconut, passion-fruit pulp or a few cubes of fresh papaya and a little lime zest.

v. Tips & common mistakes

• Always cook the papaya before adding gelatine. Raw papaya's papain digests gelatine and the pudding will never set. A few minutes at a simmer solves it.
• Do not use fresh papaya as a garnish under the pudding. Fresh pieces set into the gel will liquefy the pudding around them. Add fresh fruit only on top, just before serving.
• Remove all seeds and fibres. Even a few crushed seeds give a peppery, bitter taste.
• Add lime after cooking. Its fresh flavour fades with heat, and papaya needs the acid to taste bright.
• Cool slightly before adding the dairy. Very hot purée can split cream; warm is fine.
• Sieve for silkiness. Papaya purée can be slightly fibrous; sieving gives a smooth, glossy pudding.

vi. Variations

The Brazilian creme de papaia skips gelatine altogether: blend 300 g ripe papaya with 4 scoops of vanilla ice cream until thick, pour into glasses and drizzle with crème de cassis — it is served immediately, like a soft milkshake. A coconut papaya pudding uses coconut milk instead of dairy and sets with agar, giving a vegan, firmer pudding. A papaya mousse folds 150 ml whipped cream into the cooled, just-setting mixture. Papaya and passion fruit replaces the lime with strained passion-fruit juice.

For more tropical desserts on DessertCat, try the Brazilian coconut custard quindim, the Filipino buko pandan, a mango cheesecake or Southeast Asian coconut jelly.

vii. Serving & storage

Serve papaya pudding well chilled as a light dessert after a spicy or grilled meal, in glasses or turned out of small moulds. It goes well with lime wedges, toasted coconut, passion fruit or a crisp biscuit such as shortbread.

Keep covered in the fridge for up to 3 days. The pudding does not freeze well, as gelatine-set creams turn grainy and weep on thawing. It is a good make-ahead dessert: make it the day before and garnish just before serving. It is naturally gluten-free.

ix. More from North American

• Lime Coconut Pie — tangy Florida-style pie
• Avocado Mousse — silky dairy-free chocolate mousse
• Quindim — Brazilian coconut custard
• Buko Pandan — Filipino coconut and pandan
• Mango Cheesecake — tropical cheesecake
• Malabi — Levantine rose milk pudding