Give it a poke. It should give slightly, but not mushy, not firm.

It’s a bit of a preference thing. I like most of my fruit, papaya included, so ripe as possible. Like some people would say it’s not good anymore. Ideally also picked ripe from tree/bush. Others like it crunchy, even peaches or nectarines. Yuck.

But when a papaya is green and hard, it is great to shred and make into an Asian style salad. So it depends on you and what you want to do with it.

So the question is back to you OP, when is a papaya ready to eat?

Oh. At first glance, I thought this was Dad jokes.

I was looking for the punchline. 😞

When it’s still green and hard.

Shred it, make papaya salad.This is what I spent a lot of my holidays doing as a kid.

https://www.saengskitchen.com/laorecipes/laopapayasalad

I never knew people let it get soft until I moved to South America. I didn’t even know the orange stuff was the same fruit.

Also, mangoes are best when still green and crunchy dipped in spicy powder.

* gets eaten by a carnivorous papaya *