The easiest way to add papaya seeds to your diet is to simply buy a fresh papaya and keep the ones you scrape out separately in a container in the fridge. This works best if you use them regularly as I do for a consistent supply. Even a small papaya fruit yields many seeds and should keep you going for several days.
If you’re just starting out with papaya seeds, or using them less regularly, it would be better to keep them in a sealed container in the freezer. They can be kept in this way for many months, though they should be defrosted before use, or soaked in hot water for a few minutes to warm and soften them. Alternatively, you could transfer any you intend to use for the next day into a container in the fridge the night before.
How to Eat Papaya Seeds
Start slowly when using papaya seeds as they are quite powerful. For someone who has never used them before, perhaps just a few the first time would be a good start.
If these are well-tolerated, you can slowly work up over a week or two to a quarter of a teaspoon, followed by half a teaspoon, then eventually a full teaspoon of fresh seeds. Taken with each protein heavy meal, this should be a good amount to get the full benefits of the proteolytic enzymes for your digestion.
Personally, I generally just chew around a teaspoon of papaya seeds, both straight from the fruit whenever I’m eating papaya itself, and from the fridge before a big protein meal. The flavor is definitely strong, with a peppery/mustard taste, but not too unpleasant to my taste buds.
I’ve noticed the pips from the larger papaya are generally stronger, whereas the smaller fruit have seeds that are comparatively mild. If you’re worried about the taste, it might be best to start with small papaya until you get accustomed to them.
Those who like sweeter tastes may not find the flavor of papaya seeds their favorite thing in the world. If you’re having problems getting them down, taking them on a small teaspoon of raw honey is perfectly acceptable, as long as you still chew them up a few times.
In fact, honey is often recommended for use with papaya seeds parasite treatments, so maybe it’s not just to mask the taste. Manuka honey with its strong antibacterial properties would be particularly good for this.
Other options to consider include crushing the them up with a pestle and mortar and adding them to recipes where you’d usually use a strong peppery flavor.
Papaya seed pepper steak from grass fed beef is particularly good. Start by crushing up half a teaspoon of the seeds and rub them into the steak on both sides.
Leave it for about an hour before pan frying. The papain will tenderize the meat, while the seeds add a mustard and pepper flavor and really help with digesting the steak once it reaches your stomach.
Even easier still, and with a lot of potential benefits for your overall health, try this digestive system cleansing and parasite killing papaya seed smoothie.
Papaya Seed Pepper
For another way to use them regularly, try replacing the black peppercorns in your pepper grinder with papaya seeds. To do this, remove the seeds from the fruit and spread them out between thick paper towels, or better still, a tea towel you don’t mind washing.
Rub them quickly between the paper towels or tea towel to remove any attached pieces of fruit. Wash them and spread out flat to dry on a windowsill in the sunlight for several days.
If, like myself, you don’t live in the warmest of climates, particularly in winter, a dehydrator is great for these type of jobs and will cut the drying time down to hours. Dehydrators are also very useful for soaking and drying nuts and dehydrating fruits and berries for delicious homemade snacks.
Once the papaya seeds are dry, they actually look quite similar to peppercorns and can be used in just the same way. Grinding a couple over a meal, especially protein rich meals, is a simple way to add extra enzymes to your diet and improve your digestive health.
Next is a look at a more unusual but extremely important use for the little black nutritional powerhouses - as a parasite treatment.
Liked this page? Subscribe to the RSS feed for more!
Photo 1 credit with thanks: Public Domain Photos
Photo 2 credit with thanks: Sreejithk2000
Were can i buy papaya seeds for parasites..could you let me know thankyou
Hi Annemarie,
A few people have asked me about getting the seeds used to grow papaya plants but I don’t recommend this as they may have been treated with something.
The best way to get the papaya seeds is to buy a fresh papaya. Somewhere like wholefoods or any big fruit market should have these. The bigger ones usually have more seeds and are a little more potent. There should be enough for four to five treatments in a big papaya. You can store the extra seeds in the fridge for a few days or freeze them for longer storage.
Hope this helps.
This is a fruit found every where in my country with in the great lakes region. Frankly we are all ignorant about this specious precious fruit. We eat the fruits we can and leave the others for the birds and wild animals. Who ever cares to eat the leaves when goats don’t care for them either??? The seeds??? We throw them away to grow again by themselves, and yet we are dying of the diseases we wouldn’t be dying from. Thanks a lot for opening my mind,and I am going to try them on myself. As a question can papaya also be good for the treatment of kidney, bladder, and urinary traction infections?? How about kidney/ bladder stones???
Sebagala Mawesa
Hi Sebagala and thanks for your positive comments. Perhaps you can spread the word of just how good papaya is for you. There’s much more on the health benefits of the fruit itself here – http://superfoodprofiles.com/papaya-health-benefits
On the papaya seeds, they definitely have antibacterial properties and there are recommendations as to their value in treating liver and kidney problems, including kidney infections and kidney stones. I haven’t seen anything specific on urinary tract infections, though these are sometimes associated with pinworms, and papaya seeds are particularly good at getting rid of those.
If you try them, they work best if you start slow, perhaps half a teaspoon or so, then work up to the larger amounts described in the papaya smoothie on the next page.
All the best.
Thanks Jim for the responsible comment in regard to my contribution. However still to my ignorance, what would be the best way to eat papaya seeds? When raw or dried? I tried them raw for the first time, and Jim, the taste was un pleasant.
Sebagala Kawesa
Hi Sebagala. You can dry them if you like but I feel this is only for storage purposes. I doesn’t make them more effective and may diminish some of their potency.
Yes papaya seeds aren’t the sweetest tasting thing you’ll ever try. You could crush them up and swallow them down with a big glass of water so you don’t taste them but these days I generally prefer my papaya seed smoothie. The recipe is on this page and it’s really good for cleaning out your digestive system – http://superfoodprofiles.com/papaya-seeds-parasites
is there any other way to eat the papya seeds other than raw or with honey. i dont keep honey on hand because the kids dont like it. they had their first papya and love it, we like to use all of the fruits when available. thank you
Hi Aimee,
This page has a papaya seed smoothie recipe with lots of great tasting ingredients that can also help clear out parasites from your system – http://superfoodprofiles.com/papaya-seeds-parasites It’s much better if they are chopped up finely like this. Hope this helps.
Is swallowing a half teaspoonful helpful or do you have to chew them? I am trying to eliminate the last traces of a parasite I have had. I just swallowed them and then looked up your website– I know, reverse order.
Hi Pablo,
I think chewing them is better as the beneficial compounds are within the papaya seeds. Admittedly they are spicy, hence this smoothie recipe with complementary anti-parasitic ingredients to mask the taste – http://superfoodprofiles.com/papaya-seeds-parasites
Hi,
I noticed you said the smoothie shouldn’t be taken if breastfeeding. Would you reccomend a smaller dose of the papaya seeds or do you just suggest not taking them at all. I ask because I found a recipe for salad dressing using the seeds. Would you advise against that as well? Thanks in advance.
Hi Mimi,
I can’t recommend the large amounts in this smoothie but if we are only talking about a couple of seeds that you only have occasionally in a dressing I don’t think the dosage would be high enough to worry about.
Thanks so much for your response.
Can you swallow a few seeds in whole, instead of chewing or grinding?
Hi Helen. Unfortunately I don’t think swallowing papaya seeds would have the same effect as chewing them since your digestive tract is unlikely to break down the outer shell and release the enzymes and other compounds like carpain. My favorite way to have them now is blended up in a smoothie like this where you don’t taste them at all – http://superfoodprofiles.com/papaya-seeds-parasites