Papaya (Carica papaya L.), or betik is a plant originating in southern Mexico and the northern part of South America, and is now widespread and widely planted throughout the tropics for its fruits. C. papaya is the only species in the genus Carica. The papaya name in Indonesian is derived from the Dutch, "papaja", which in turn also takes from the name Arawak, "papaya".
Papaya fruit eaten meat, both when young and ripe. Young fruit meat is cooked as a vegetable. Ripe fruit flesh is eaten fresh or as a fruit cocktail mixture. Papaya is also used leaves as a vegetable and meat tenderizer. Young papaya leaves eaten as fresh vegetables (after dilayukan with hot water) or made a buntil wrap. By the Manado, papaya flowers are anointed to vegetables are usually eaten. The papaya sap (found in stems, leaves, and fruit) contains papain enzymes, a kind of protease, which can soften the flesh and alter the conformation of other proteins. Papain has been mass-produced and a trade commodity.