Papaya and Lemon Balm

papaya and lemon balm

Last year I really got hooked on fresh lemon balm, it is a great tasting herb that hides in the herb section of Lowe's, Home Depot, or any other nursery. It's disguise is it looks like mint, doesn't taste the same. Actually it really doesn't taste like lemon any more than lemon grass does, but hey it tastes great in so many dishes, who cares!
Take a ripe papaya and cut it up into bite size cubes. I use about 1 1/2 cups worth. I love the big papaya's that I can buy at the Rancho Markets and the more orange/yellow with almost spots on it the sweeter. Next I grab some lemon balm leaves, rinsed and patted dry, I would say about 2 tablespoons worth. Cut them up or just tear with your hands, I like big leaves of it with my fruit. Sprinkle lemon balm over the papaya.

add some lemon zest

Then I grate some lemon peel over the the fruit and herb mixture. It is about 1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest. Now I just take it from here and eat, however, if you have a lime hanging around bored and with nothing to do, squeeze some lime juice onto the whole mix. Not too much, lime is like any party crasher, it can take over the whole event if you add too much. So go with about a teaspoon worth.
This makes a great breakfast, or even dessert if you so choose.

add lime juice if so desired and enjoy!

Short story on my luck with limes and papayas. When I was living in the dorms at University of Alaska, Fairbanks with my girlfriend Mimi, my dad used to give us fresh fruit to keep in our room for snacks. We kept it cold by sticking it out our window for a few minutes in a bag and then had to bring it in so it wouldn't freeze. However, ice cream was always perfect until break-up happened (Alaskan Spring)

 . Then it would get soupy, but that's a different story.
So we had a lime and a papaya out our window, and we were goofing off one day when we saw a friend down in the parking lot below our room. We thought it would be fun to get his attention by dropping the lime in his direction. Now in my defense may I just state we were college freshman and had not yet taken physics. That's my excuse for what happened next. We were laughing so we didn't really see the full accident, however I do remember hearing a thoop sound. Only way to describe it. We looked out the window and saw a perfect hole in his front windshield right above the steering wheel. The lime went through the glass. Okay maybe this is where I should mention I dropped it from our room which is five stories above where he was parked. Yea about that lack of physics.... Good news is it went through the windshield, which I still feel bad about. Bad news is I was aiming at him. No wait reverse that. I never can get good/bad news right.
So see limes can be real party crashers, you have to watch out for them!
Enjoy!