Papaya Smoothie or Merengada. Pretty word right. Me-ren-ga-da. Think...creamy sweetness of a milk shake and the tropical flavors of papaya.
Papaya is a fruit that often sits sadly in the corner of the produce section of the grocery store. I always notice people walk past it but few people pick one up. Let’s be honest, papayas are not the prettiest of fruit. Kind of green, kind of orange, kind of grey. When they are ripe they often look bruised and ugly. But oh boy when they are ripe they taste like a tropical paradise vacation.
Growing up, I ate a lot of papaya. This is a pretty popular accessible fruit in Venezuela. People eat it, drink it and make great desserts with it. One of the easiest ways to enjoy it, is blended up. That’s where the Merengada comes in.
Merengada basically means a blended drink with milk. So in this case, it is a papaya merengada. That is Spanish by the way. But what really takes it all over the top is my second sweet sweet love (after dark chocolate of course), sweetened condensed milk.
Even though there is no ice cream this drink, the milk, vanilla extract and sweetened condensed milk create the creamy flavor of vanilla ice cream. What’s better than an ice cream tasting drink that is actually healthy? Um nothing?
It’s fairly easy to choose a good papaya, and even if it is green, it will ripen quickly at room temperature. To speed up the process, you can carve some long notches along the surface of the skin with a sharp knife. Once it is soft and mainly yellow/orange colored, you can refrigerate it and use it within a couple of days.
Lucky for us, my mom loves bringing papayas from Texas every time she visits. It’s become kind of a joke now since my mom always gets stopped at security and her bag is check for traveling with fruit. Ha! She is use to it though.
When I first moved here, she was convinced that fruit here was not as good as the fruit in Texas. Which in her defense is somewhat true. The variety of fruit year around, especially tropical fruit, is way better in the south. So she would always bring me fruit every time she visited. That’s how we show love in my family through food 🙂 If you can’t already tell, we love to eat.
So this time, my mom brought a monstrous papaya. Unfortunately I do not have a before photo but I am telling you it was big enough to fill 2 large Tupperware containers with chopped up papaya.
With lots of papaya on hand, a Merengada is in order. Best part about this whole thing is sharing it with my mom and baby Poppy who LOVED it! Nothing like sharing good food with those you love <3
Next time you are at the store and see a lonely papaya, give it a little squeeze and check that it is a little soft and has a little give. Then take it home and make yourself a Merengada de Papaya. And don’t forget to share 😉
Papaya Smoothie {Merengada}
Serving size: 4. Recipe can easily be halved or doubled.
Notes: If you want a lighter alternative, use skim milk and less sugar. For a vegan option, use soy milk, almond milk or another vegan milk option.
- 2 cups of papaya, peeled and cut into cubes
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1-2 cups ice cubes
- 1 ½ – 2 cup milk (cows, almond, vanilla-almond or soy)
- 4 tablespoons sugar (can be adjusted based on preference)
- Sweetened condensed milk to drizzle (optional but highly recommended)
Put all the ingredients in the blender and keep on at high-speed until the ice is blended.
Serve immediately, then drizzle on the condensed milk.
Originally posted 2016-07-19 20:53:16.
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