Can I not buy it out of season?
It is listed as a fruit available all year round. What a shop actually stocks, in terms of variety and quantity, still differs, so look at whole fruit and prepared fruit separately.
Papaya
Papaya · มะละกอ
If you have tried som tam in Thailand, taste ripe papaya too. Unlike the green papaya used in som tam, ripe flesh is eaten soft and sweet. Cut it in half, scoop out the black seeds and eat the flesh. When you choose cut fruit, you could also look for ripe papaya.
Papaya cut half · Maksym Kozlenko · CC BY-SA 4.0
Resized for display · Photo provided under CC BY-SA 4.0
When is the best time to eat it?
Available all year
Listed as available all year round
Use the main season, or the season of a regional fruit, as a guide. Actual availability can vary with growing area, variety and weather.
What does it taste like?
Ripe papaya is a fruit in which you enjoy soft flesh. Unripe papaya is also used as a cooking ingredient, so its texture differs from papaya eaten as fruit.
Why this fruit is known in Thailand
It is a familiar fruit through som tam, the green papaya salad. In Thailand you can learn both how to eat the ripe fruit and how to use the unripe fruit in dishes.
Basics to know before you buy
- Thai name
- มะละกอ
- Season
- Available all year
- How it is sold
- Tell apart ripe papaya to eat right away as fruit and green papaya to use in a dish, and choose accordingly. The price unit can also differ between whole fruit and a prepared pack.
How to peel and eat it
- Wash a ripe papaya and cut it in half.
- Scoop out the black seeds in the middle, peel it and eat the flesh.
- Green papaya and ripe papaya are eaten differently, so choose the one you will eat right away.
Price reference
Bangkok retail prices · 14 October 2026
These are prices by variety and grade surveyed by Thailand's Department of Internal Trade. Not every street seller charges the same price.
| Fruit and variety | Price | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Papaya · Holland (ฮอลแลนด์) | 40–60 baht | 1 kg |
Keep the price of a cut-fruit bag or tub separate from the per-kg price of whole fruit. In this survey, bananas are priced per bunch.
Frequently asked questions
How do I compare a per-kg price with a per-pack price?
Tell apart ripe papaya to eat right away as fruit and green papaya to use in a dish, and choose accordingly. The price unit can also differ between whole fruit and a prepared pack.
Keep exploring
Official sources and references
If you want to read more about these dishes and regions, these sources are a good place to start. Ingredients and cooking methods can differ from one eatery to another.
Sharing image credit: Maksym Kozlenko · CC BY-SA 4.0