20 Photos That Prove That You Don’t Have a Clue How Your Food is Grown

19. Papaya Fruits

The papaya is the fruit of the Carica Papaya tree. It is native to southern Mexico and Central America and is now cultivated in many tropical regions. The fruit sometimes used to be referred to as a “tree melon.” In Australia it is called Papaw or Paw Paw. Today there are two varieties of papaya, Hawaiian and Mexican. The Mexican papaya can weigh as much as ten pounds while the Hawaiian usually weighs about a pound. It is the smaller Hawaiian papaya that is found in most produce aisles. The papaya was introduced to Hawaii in the early 1800s. Today, Hawaii is the only U.S. state that grows papayas commercially. It looks like as they would come from a jungle vine, but in truth, they grow on large plants that look like palm trees. Like other fruits that hang from branches, papayas don’t, papaya fruit nurtures right out of the side of the tree, while its branches grow above the trunk and provide canopy.