Australian grown papaya will be given a boost this month when Mareeba papaya grower Skybury Farms, and local produce retailer, Beemart bring the first ever Papaya Week to Bundaberg.
Skybury Farms General Manager Candy MacLaughlin
Candy MacLaughlin, Skybury's general manager, said the concept was to introduce restaurants, cafés and the public more broadly to the benefits inherent in the widely grown and marketed red papaya. "Our idea is to partner with local restaurants, so we are able to show chefs and diners how delicious and versatile this local crop really is."
With nearly all red papaya eaten in Australia grown within 500 kilometres of Cairns, the industry is a major employer suppling around 5,000 tonnes each year to meet intrastate and interstate demand and contributing approx. $20 million per annum into the economy.
"Our papaya fields at Paddy's Green near Mareeba are part of a patchwork of neighbouring growers' farms who are slowly recovering from the impacts of a tough wet season," explains Candy MacLaughlin. "As well as Skybury, there are several other major papaya growers in Far North Queensland who grow and pick red papaya for 52 weeks a year. As an industry, papaya would employ thousands of people directly and hundreds more indirectly in transport, logistics, storage, and retailing," says MacLaughlin.
Bundaberg Papaya Week will run from 18th – 24th March 2024, with restaurant partners Oodies Café, Berts, and Alowishus Delicious set to embrace papaya power in specially created papaya dishes on their menus for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
"One of the interesting aspects of papaya – apart from it being a delicious and nutritious superfood – is that it is incredibly versatile. You can use it in a papaya boat for breakfast, in bruschetta for lunch, and in savoury curries for dinner. And anytime is papaya smoothie time!" said MacLaughlin.
For more information
Candy MacLaughlin
Skybury
Phone:+61 7 4093 2194
Email: info@skybury.com.au
www.skybury.com.au