It has a golden yellow flesh with a honey-sweet taste, delicate aroma and buttery texture. It can taste like pineapple or a very sweet melon. Its smaller size and softer flesh make it ideal for direct consumption, smoothies or breakfast bowls.

Also, its seeds have a distinctive, slightly spicy flavor and are sometimes used as an alternative to black pepper.

After halving, the seeds are hollowed out, the skin is peeled and the pulp is cut, or the pulp can be scooped out without seeds with a spoon. It is excellent either raw and without additives, drizzled only with lime or lemon, or in fruit and vegetable salads, desserts and cocktails. It also tastes great in savoury cuisine in combination with curry spices and mild types of meat – seafood or poultry. Unripe fruits are also used mainly in Thai cuisine. In this form, papaya is used as a vegetable and is cooked in stewed mixtures, various variants of curry and in salads.