Papaya Balls

Chewy tropical candy. (Note that the nutrition information isn't really correct, because the recipe amount of sugar is only for one cup of papaya, not a whole fruit.) I got about six cups of squeezed grated pulp from a large papaya, so used 4 1/2 cups of sugar. I used about two tablespoons of lime juice. I heated the syrup mixture to soft ball, which is a good bit past where it starts to gel. The candy was a little sticky but malleable after cooling slightly. I just made the balls and let them finish cooling overnight, without rolling in more sugar.

My step-son was doing a report on the Caribbean and I decided to make this candy to go along with his oral report. I had a little trouble getting the mixture to gel. I thought it was finally there and allowed it to cool, but the consistancy wasn't right for rolling into balls. I reheated and added about 1 T. of arrow root starch and cooked about 5 more minutes, on medium-high heat (stirring constantly). That seemed to help, but once it cooled, it was still difficult to roll. The finished product reminded me of a gum drop in appearance. I don't like papaya, but I thought it tasted pretty good for papaya. My stars are not based on taste, but on the difficulty I had with the recipe.