04-08-2016, 12:53 PM
Last I checked Diamond Head Papaya in Keaau was selling a tote of "reject" papayas (about 800 pounds) for ten dollars. They dump them into pickup for free. You need to call ahead to see if they have them.
They use a steaming process to kill fly larvae for export papayas and they use some of the rejects to calibrate the equipment. Most of the "rejects" don't actually have anything wrong with them other than they were the wrong size / color / look for the export market (which is most of the market), or they were used in the calibration process. When you see cheap papayas being sold at farmers markets (4/dollar, 6/dollar, etc) they came from places like this.
They use a steaming process to kill fly larvae for export papayas and they use some of the rejects to calibrate the equipment. Most of the "rejects" don't actually have anything wrong with them other than they were the wrong size / color / look for the export market (which is most of the market), or they were used in the calibration process. When you see cheap papayas being sold at farmers markets (4/dollar, 6/dollar, etc) they came from places like this.