Papaya. Sweet Potato on Acid, Timothy Leary style.

What we have here is a full grown succulent Papaya grown in a residential neighborhood in Chiang Mai, Thailand.  I know this because I grew it.  This is NOT fake news.  This season I had two Papaya trees, they were about 1 meter apart, in the same soil and received the same amount of sunlight and nutrients.  One grew strong and bore many fruit and the other, although strong and promising at first, later failed to mature and propagate.

There is no explanation for this failure to thrive by the one and not the other.  It's like having kids.  One goes to the University of Michigan and the other goes to Jackson Michigan State prison.

Coming from the West my experience and familiarity with Papaya was limited.  If available in America they were just "green" blobs to be occasionally seen in "Trader Joe's" or "Whole Foods" and to be assiduously avoided.  Why?  The price was prohibitive and the condition was questionable.  (What slow boat from Asia had it come over on?) What was inside?  Did you want to  pay $10.00 for it.

After having consumed a full season of Payaya I liken them to, strangely enough, a sweet Potato.  Yes they are like a sweet well cooked sweet Potato on LSD.    Yes  quite possibly, former US Army Sgt. Timothy Leary would be rolling over in his grave to hear this but it's true.  The flavor, color and texture of the Papaya is, at first seemingly like a sweet Potato but 10 times more intense, if your thinking sweet potato.

And we learn from  Drugs.Com  that "Papaya is cultivated for its edible ripe fruit; its juice is a popular beverage, and its young leaves, shoots, and fruits are cooked as a vegetable. The fruits are a source of flavoring used in candies, jellies, preserves, and ice cream. Shallow cuts on the surface of fully grown but unripe fruits cause a milky sap or latex to ooze that is collected, dried, and termed “crude papain.” Papain has many industrial uses, as well as milk-clotting (rennet) and protein-digesting properties." 

And who ever knew that "Nearly 80% of American beer is treated with papain, which allows the beer to remain clear upon cooling. Papain is most commonly used commercially in meat tenderizers and chewing gums. Cosmetically, papain is used in some toothpastes, shampoos, and facial creams." 

You see above the healthy "fruitful Papaya.   Below her pathetic sister, although promiscuous, she failed to follow the prime directive.

A tall strong stalk, well formed leaves but no fruit.  No amount of government support or subsidies would have made a difference and helped this plant to propagate.  Mother nature is not inclusive and fair.  She is not in the business of underwriting failed species or non performing instances of successful species.  No title IX support offered here and neither should we be, as a society, in the business of supporting and paying for policies that subsidize groups or individuals that weaken our society as a whole.  It may sound cruel by today's, over indulgent and destructive standards but it is not.  Continued government support of the flawed, the degenerates, and the infirm at the expense of the healthy, creative, energetic and productive will ultimately lead to the overall destruction of our republic.  While it is wonderful and just and proper and should be applauded that individuals and private charities reach out and support and attempt to rehabilitate the infirm.  Government has no place in imposing this largess on the taxpayers of this nation.