When is a papaya ready to eat?

It's the "star" variety, will it turn entirely yellow?

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* gets eaten by a carnivorous papaya *
Give it a poke. It should give slightly, but not mushy, not firm.
- This is probably gross for some people but my mom tests by slightly poking with a thumbnail. If it breaks the skin, it's good to go.
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.
Oh. At first glance, I thought this was Dad jokes.

I was looking for the punchline. 😞
- See my reply to OP for your punchline ;)
  
  You da MVP today!
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?
- @PolyLlamaRous That's a good point, I should have been more specific.
  
  Definitely don't want it green and hard, will wait until it has a little give but it's not mush.
  
  Mushy fruit is awful.
When all moisture is removed

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