SC - OT - For Our Inverted Friends in Lochac

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Mel's Hubby, Drake, wrote:
>The choko is also known as the Chayote (Sechium edule)
>
>See: http://www.cgiar.org/ipgri/Feature/Chayote.htm

Back in the late 1960's i lived in New York City and encountered all 
sorts of interesting foods. One was the ?fruit?vegetable? in question.

Another name for a choko or a chayote (that's a 3 syllable word) is 
christophene (also a 3 syllable word).

>The choko is a fruit that grows on a vine and needs warm weather to
>ripen.  They look like a large, green pear.  They have white flesh
>that is neither sweet or starchy.  The best way to eat them is to peel
>them well, split them in half and remove the seed and slice the flesh
>into thick strips. Steam them in the microwave for about 8-12 minutes
>till they are soft and sprinkle freshly ground (coarse) pepper and
>some coarse sea salt and a big knob of fresh uncultured butter. YUM.

Hmmm, flesh seemed to me to be very pale green, but, well, not a big 
difference.

No microwave here. I peel them, cut in fairly large cubes, and steam 
in a steamer basket over boiling water in a covered saucepan until 
fork tender.

>When steamed they have a vague stewed apple taste and seem to absorn
>other flavours.

Rather mild flavor, but quite pleasant, has a squash sort of texture. 
I sometimes used them in place of zucchini, which i don't like, or 
the little pale green crook necked squash or the yellow patty pan 
squash which i do like. I didn't notice an apple like flavor. Maybe 
they taste different in Australia :-)

>As far as I am aware, they are native to central america and I have
>yet to see a reference in period.  It's certainly not in Gerald's
>Herbal.

I thought they were Caribbean. Perhaps they traveled from Central 
America to the islands after colonization.

>A picture of Chokoes:
>http://www.smh.com.au/news/9810/28/national/national3.html

And speaking of odd Caribbean foods, i REALLY miss ugli fruit. I 
haven't seen one since 1969 when i left New York (although i find 
chayotes here in California)...

Anahita al-shazhiyya