Chayote - Weird Fruit Explorer

Episode 621: Chayote
Species: Sechium edule
location: San Jose, Costa Rica

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[juanrojas]

My dad loves these, but the ones he ate had spikes on them and when I was really young he'd call me chayote because my hair was short and stuck out like the spikes.

[Alchemist]

Chayote absorbs the flavor of whatever you cook with it. You can stretch apples for a pie by replacing some apple with chayote.

[PattyChies]

Yes... The tasteless veggie, this grows like a plague and produce a lot. My mom likes to boil it, then season with vinegar, olive oil, salt and oregano to eat as salad. Some bake it with some filling.

[MrWednesday.]

Here in Australia my grandmother would grow these on wires in the backyard, we called them Chokos. She would boil them till well past soft, (thats how she cooked everything) and they would be served as a vegetable for dinner. Bland and texturally uninspiring, but generally inoffensive.

[higgytheadmiral]

These grow here too. From Uganda. To be exact, the white ones. And its hilarious hearing you say its like biting into an apple. This fruit is literally like eating the white of a water melon[ if its young and tender] and quite like a starchy tuber in texture when over ripe. Another fun fact, its sap[ very clear in colour] is a pain to remove from your hands after cutting through it. Ohh and we peel off the cover of the fruit as its not edible and quite hard especially if its overgrown.

[TheAverageNooob]

I eat this often in my Mexican household in Southern California. None of us have ever ate it raw. I also think it tastes like potato but once you boil it. Usually we put it in soups and stews. Many times we simply boil it and serve it as a side with salt and pepper.

[Stupha_Kinpendous]

I live in Taiwan. Here, chayote greens are a very common dish, and the fruits are eaten as well, but much less often. I love both. You can basically chuck a chayote into any kind of dish where'd you'd use any other chopped vegetable.

[kimberlymcguire]

In New Orleans, they call it “Mirliton”and my mother in law makes it with shrimp and butter and onion. A simple thing but it’s very good. Another classic way to cook it here is to stuff it with seafood and breadcrumbs and bake it.

[Verlisify]

Chayote Ketchup better be coming or riot

[wendiland]

A friend gave me a spiky green chayote. I planted, and it fruited white. Planted white and fruited white as well. The white one you’re holding is about ready to sprout! Can cut them julienne, pickled to eat raw. When cooked with skin the texture remains firm longer than peeling then cooking.

[carlox]

In Brazil it's called chuchu and it's eaten mostly cooked in stews and soups, in fact I've never seen someone eating it raw here

[DaveTexas]

I love chayotes. I usually use them in coconut-curry dishes. I just dice them into chunks and toss them in with the other vegetables. I make a shrimp curry dish that has onion, red bell pepper, chayote, and plantains. It’s all simmered in coconut milk with some red curry paste, adding the shrimp just before serving so they don’t overcook. The combination of the chayote with the plantain is superb.

[vonn]

In indonesia it called labu siam/labu jepang or sayur labu. You could peel the skin and cut it to long stick/julienne and stir fried it with salt, MSG, white pepper powder (can add shrimp, egg etc, or you could just go to original without shrimp or egg)
When stir fried dont cook it too long, it's easy to get overcooked and have mushy texture
Or you could steam it however it better eat the steam chayote with indonesia sambal (dont peel the skin and just cut bigger because for steam).
For people want to try eating it raw, you must buy smaller chayotes, because it's younger and taste sweeter, and the flesh not as hard as the bigger one, and can eat it with sambal too or just chilies with soy souce as dip sauce.
Bigger/old chayote better for stir fried Dont eat bigger/old chayote raw, it's almost tasteless

[deoxyplasmic]

Thanks for taking us along with you! I almost felt like I just arrived there, and could imagine your experience of wanting something hearty to eat. I could imagine how it tasted and how satisfying it would be after a long day. Your adventures seem like so much fun, I'm glad you're sharing them!

[petrichor]

Starting off strong with the Dankpods music AND it being episode 621, congrats!

[anhtuancromartie]

In Vietnam we cook this fruit as a vegetable but they are usually harvested when the fruit is just forming and the seeds are small, when the fruit is cooked it will have a mild sweetness and similar to a squash.

[ChimpChumpable]

My mother bought a mixed box of veggies online a few months ago and there were a couple chayote in the box. She had no idea what they were and gave them to me, I've been eating them ever since, they're great!

[SaltedFishing]

Nice! We grow chayote. I know butter is out for you, but we usually stir fry ours with butter, onion and some peppers. Makes an awesome side dish.

[pallavidutta]

It is called 'skuash' in Bengali language and my mom makes a "dalna" (Soupy curry), bhaja (stir fried chayote with Nigella seeds, green chillies, salt and sugar) and skuash posto (fried chayote with poppy seed paste) with this.

[HajiDumas]

Also called militon, normally stuffed with shrimp dressing or beef it is a classic for holiday dinners in South Louisiana, The ones you don't finish on thanksgiving dinners end up being lunch until the fresher batch is made for christmas dinner.