Papaya

Why papaya is rated low

Papaya is low at any typical portion, with no FODMAP group building to a meaningful level. That makes papaya an easy win in a tropical fruit bowl where a lot of the neighbours are not. A normal bowl of cubes at breakfast or a few slices with lime needs no weighing. The things that change a papaya dish are the forms and the company: dried spears, nectars and the mango and watermelon it is usually diced alongside.

What changes your risk

• Serving size Papaya is low at any typical portion, so the amount of fresh fruit in the bowl is not the thing to manage. The rest of the bowl is.
• Stacking across the meal No single FODMAP group builds in papaya, so the thing to manage is the overall FODMAP load of the whole meal. Papaya inside a tropical fruit salad, next to a juice and a sweetened yoghurt, is a stack of servings arriving together.
• Dried papaya is a different food Drying removes the water and concentrates what is left, so a small amount of dried papaya carries the load of far more fresh fruit. Dried papaya spears are usually sweetened as well, so they do not share the fresh fruit's rating.
• Juice, nectar and smoothies Juicing puts several pieces of fruit into one glass and leaves the fibre behind, and papaya nectars are usually sweetened or blended with other fruit. Check what else is in the glass.
• Green papaya salad is about the dressing Green papaya salad is normally built on a dressing containing garlic, and that is where the FODMAPs come from, not the fruit. Unripe green papaya is also a different ingredient from the ripe fruit.

What else works

Papaya is one of the low options in the tropical section, and pineapple, oranges, mandarins and strawberries round out a fruit bowl alongside it. The lookalikes to keep out of the same bowl are the ones that get diced into the same tropical mix and are not low: mango and watermelon are the usual two, and packaged tropical mixes lean on both. Dried papaya spears and papaya nectar are separate products that the fresh fruit rating does not cover, so treat them on their own rather than as a convenient version of the same fruit.

How to keep it low

Choose a papaya that gives slightly under gentle pressure and finish ripening it at room temperature, then refrigerate once it is cut. Halve it, scoop out the black seeds, and cube it; there is no need to weigh it, since any typical portion is low. Cut fruit keeps a couple of days in a sealed container in the fridge, which makes it easy to prep once and eat across several days. A squeeze of lime over the top lifts the flavour. At a breakfast buffet the papaya usually arrives premixed with mango and watermelon, so take it from a separate dish if there is one.

Common questions

how much papaya is low fodmap

Papaya is low at any typical portion, so a normal bowl of fresh fruit needs no weighing. Watch what it is mixed with rather than the papaya.

can i eat papaya during the elimination phase

Yes. Papaya is low at any typical portion, which makes it one of the easier fruits available during elimination. Individual tolerance still varies, and reintroduction work belongs with a dietitian.

is dried papaya low fodmap

Dried papaya is not covered by the fresh fruit rating. Drying concentrates what is left after the water goes, and dried papaya spears are usually sweetened as well, so they are a separate food from fresh papaya.

what about papaya in a smoothie

Blending does not change FODMAP content, so papaya in a smoothie is as low as papaya in a bowl. Check the other fruit, juice and yoghurt that go in with it.