Skip to main content
fruit fruity green & herbal Vegan Gluten-free Dairy-free Nut-free Kosher Halal

Papaya

Papaya is a fruit with 388 known flavor compounds. The most distinctive molecule is 1-hexen-3-one. It pairs most strongly with mango, sharing 276 flavor compounds. Papaya appears in 291 recipes, most commonly in Indonesian cuisine.

Scientific name: Papaya
genus of plants (do not use, use Carica)
Wikidata Q17406004 (CC0)
Papaya — ingredient reference image
388
Flavor Compounds
8
Top Pairings of 856 scored

Flavor Science

Flavor Profile Breakdown

388 compounds

How Papaya's 388 known compounds break down by aroma category. Percentages are of compounds with a known label.

fruity 67 · 17.3%
sour 56 · 14.4%
floral 47 · 12.1%
other 38 · 9.8%
woody 30 · 7.7%
herbal 28 · 7.2%
green 25 · 6.4%
roasted 23 · 5.9%
sulfurous 8 · 2.1%
spicy 8 · 2.1%

Most Used In

Indonesian (5) Vietnamese (1) Jamaican (1) Hawaiian (1) Ceviche (1)

Flavor Compounds

127 of 388 are distinctive to papaya — they appear in under 10% of foods. The remainder are the background most foods share.

Ordered by measured impact in papaya — concentration against odour threshold where both are published, then by how distinctive the molecule is across the graph. Molecules measured here but not established as odorants sit below those that are.

Molecules volatile enough to reach the nose.
ethyl acetate palmitic acid benzyl isothiocyanate 1-hexen-3-one methyl geranate diacetone alcohol triacetin beta-citral palmitoleic acid 5-methyl-2-hexanone methyl thiocyanate ethyl isobutyrate heneicosane methyl isobutyrate eicosane 3-pentanol propyl butyrate amyl acetate heptadecane nonadecane 1,2-dimethylbenzene isopropyl myristate methyl heptanoate ethyl crotonate cis-2-hexen-1-ol hexadecane tridecane 2-undecanol octadecane butyl hexanoate +221 more nonacosane citric acid stearic acid tritriacontane dotriacontane octacosane triacontane lycopene heptacosane lignoceric acid hentriacontane arachidic acid docosanoic acid tricosanoic acid nervonic acid lutein isorhamnetin isoliquiritigenin thiamine hydrochloride taxifolin daidzein squalene genistein quercetin luteolin myricetin phloretin zeaxanthin aconitic acid stigmasterol tetracosane tricosane pentadecyl propyl ester 2,4-pentanedione isobutyl benzoate lavender lactone tannic acid propyl hexanoate tartaric acid caffeine α-tocopherol retinol pentacosane hexacosane isopropyl butyrate benzyl butyrate propyl propionate 2,4-dimethyl-1,3-dioxane isopropylcyclohexane 2-ethylbutyric acid 2,6-dimethyl-3,7-octadiene-2,6-diol methyl 2-furoate butyl benzoate isopropanol ocimene quintoxide butyl decanoate chebi:88903 2-furoic acid linalool a oxide octan-2-one

Most Abundant Molecules

3 of 388 quantified

Ranked by median concentration across published studies. Only 3 of Papaya's 388 compounds have a measured concentration in the literature — the rest are confirmed present but not yet quantified. Bars are log-scaled.

1 ethyl acetate 400.0 mg/kg
2 palmitic acid 400.0 mg/kg
3 benzyl isothiocyanate 2.9 mg/kg

Best Pairings for Papaya

Ranked by how often cooks actually use them together, across 453,403 recipes — the familiar answer first. Each pairing still carries its molecular score and shared-compound count; only the ORDER differs. Counts cover every characterised molecule the two ingredients have in common, not only the aroma-active ones, so they can exceed an ingredient’s aroma-compound count. For the chemistry-first view — where the surprising pairings live — see the molecular network below, the side-by-side comparison, or the Pairing Tool.

Molecular Neighborhood

Papaya and its 10 closest compound-sharing relatives. Spoke thickness = shared compounds; circle size = that ingredient's own compound count. Drag to rearrange, scroll to zoom, click to open.

Molecular neighborhood diagram of papaya — top 10 ingredients ranked by shared volatile compounds
1
Mango fruit
276 shared compounds
82%
2
Kiwifruit fruit
252 shared compounds
73%
3
Lime fruit citrus
244 shared compounds
73%
4
Pineapple fruit
267 shared compounds
74%
5
Colocasia vegetable
29 shared compounds
25%
6
Banana fruit
263 shared compounds
71%
7
Peppermint herb
239 shared compounds
64%
8
Starfruit fruit
122 shared compounds
43%

Compare Papaya side-by-side

Papaya vs Mango Papaya vs Kiwifruit Papaya vs Lime Papaya vs Pineapple Papaya vs Colocasia Papaya vs Banana

Recipes with Papaya

View all →
Orange Sherbet

Orange Sherbet

water papaya
2 ingr. · 2 steps View →
Papaya Biscuit

Papaya Biscuit

papaya lemon
2 ingr. · 1 steps View →
Papaya Salad

Papaya Salad

papaya vinegar salt
3 ingr. · 1 steps View →

Papaya Balls

papaya lime sugar
3 ingr. · 6 steps View →
Papaya Candy

Papaya Candy

papaya sugar lemon
3 ingr. · 7 steps View →

Baked Papaya

papaya sugar cinnamon
3 ingr. · 4 steps View →
Research basis

Papaya is supported by 1,794 peer-reviewed papers

Drawn from PubMed + Europe PMC + food-science journals. Click any title to read the full abstract on the original source.
Show all 1,794 papers →