Papaya Vacation

Eat a lot of papaya? I've recently started to.

I am a recent convert to this juicy, sweet, tropical fruit. For years the only papaya I consumed was after two hot dogs at Grey's Papaya.

Now, I'm making papaya salads with mint and fresh oranges. What!

This salad is particularly delicious with grilled meats. Have a nice dollop of yogurt on the side for a nice, healthy dessert. I also found that after I eat this particular salad, I feel really good.

Papaya Mint salad with Oranges

You'll need:
1 1/2 pounds fresh, ripe papaya
Two large naval oranges (cara-cara are fantastic for this)
1 cup fresh mint leaves
One lime
One jalapeno
Fresh cracked pepper

1. Peel, seed and cut the papaya and oranges. Save one half of one of the oranges.
2. Clean the mint and tear the leaves from the stems.
3. Cut the lime in half.
4. You'll only need about half the jalapeno, diced fine.
5. Add all your prepared fruits into a large salad bowl, squeezing the lime and the reserved half orange over the top.
6. Grind some pepper over top and toss everything together.
Enjoy!

note; if making ahead of time, you can use less mint, as it will permeate the fruit overnight. Also, make sure you only use fresh, ripe papaya and orange for this salad. Also, if you decide to leave the jalapeno out, you can substitute with more lime juice and more black pepper.