Filipino · sauce/condiment

Atchara (Pickled Green Papaya Relish)

Name: Atchara (Pickled Green Papaya Relish)
Prep time: 1 h 20 min
Total time: 25 h 30 min
Cuisine: Filipino
Ingredients: green unripe papaya — 1000 g; salt — 30 g; vinegar — 400 g; white sugar — 300 g; carrot — 150 g; red bell pepper — 150 g; fresh ginger — 40 g; garlic — 20 g; onion — 120 g; raisins — 60 g; black peppercorns — 15 g; salt — 5 g

Atchara (Pickled Green Papaya Relish) reads sweetness 6.5, sourness 5.9 and salinity 4.8 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Filipino sauce/condiment, about 25 hr 30 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

Umami & Savory — 5.0 / 10
Sweet & Fruity — 7.6 / 10
Sour & Bright — 6.2 / 10
Bitter & Earthy — 1.6 / 10
Rich & Fat — 0.9 / 10
Aromatic & Spice — 5.1 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Sweetness 6.5 · Sourness 5.9 · Salinity 4.8 · Allium 4.7 · Fruity 3.7 · Warm Spice 2.5 · Herbaceous 1.5 · Earthy 1.4 · Umami 1.3 · Bitterness 1.1 · Heat 1.0 · Citrus 0.9 · Richness 0.7 · Nutty 0.6 · Floral 0.6

What's in it (12)

green unripe papaya — 1000 g
salt — 30 g
vinegar — 400 g
white sugar — 300 g
carrot — 150 g
red bell pepper — 150 g
fresh ginger — 40 g
garlic — 20 g
onion — 120 g
raisins — 60 g
black peppercorns — 15 g
salt — 5 g

Time & effort: about 25 hr 30 min (1 hr 20 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 72.3 kcal, 0.4 g protein, 0.1 g fat, 17.6 g carbs

Dietary: Vegan — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (7 steps)

Toss the shredded papaya with the coarse salt in a colander and leave 1 hour. Then gather it in a clean cloth and wring it out hard, in batches, until no more liquid comes. You want it almost dry to the touch. Skipping this leaves the papaya soggy and dilutes the pickle within a day.
Rinse the papaya briefly in cold water to remove the excess salt, then wring it out a second time just as hard.
Bring the vinegar, sugar, fine salt and peppercorns to a boil in a non-reactive pan, stirring until the sugar has fully dissolved, then simmer 5 minutes. Let it cool for 10 minutes; pouring it boiling over the vegetables cooks them limp.
Combine the papaya, carrot, bell pepper, ginger, garlic, onion and raisins in a large bowl and mix well with your hands so everything is evenly distributed.
Pour the warm brine over, press everything under the liquid, and leave to cool completely, about 45 minutes.
Pack into sterilised jars, making sure the vegetables stay submerged, seal and refrigerate. Atchara is edible after 24 hours, good after 3 days and best after a week, and it keeps a month. It is the standard foil for anything fried or grilled and it is what makes lechon, fried fish and grilled pork belly eatable in quantity: sweet, sharp, gingery and crunchy against fat.
Substitutions: shredded can stand in for the green unripe papaya.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Utopenci (Pickled Sausages, the Drowned Men) — Czech
Torshi (Egyptian Mixed Pickles) — Egyptian
Urojo (Zanzibar Mix) — Swahili Coast
Czernina (Duck Blood Soup) — Polish
Chow Chow (End-of-Garden Relish) — American · Appalachian

Keep reading: what sweetness, sourness, salinity mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

See how this dish fits your palate — take the short taste test →

Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.