chayote planting

I purchased some chayote at a farmers market and before I could finish eating them, one sprouted. How do I plant this? I am now planting in my fall garden but have never tried one of these.
Susie

I have no idea, but wanted to ask you how you prepare these to eat. They have started getting them into some of our local stores and I would like to try it.
Sandra

Bake em like a potatoe. I first pierce them with a fork (learned the hard way to do this) then place in the microwave about 5 minutes (depends on how large they are). take out and put fixins on like I would a baked potatoe. If you do not pierce first, they will pop or explode(scared the bejabers out of me when that happened). They taste similar to a squash. You may be able to prep it like any squash.
It looks like a long vine coming out of the eye and I don't know what to do with them. I have had one setting on the counter about 3 weeks until it sprouted.

I have had the same thing happen to me and while they have grown well, the growing season up here doesn't seem to be long enough. They need to climb and like warm weather and sun. Good luck.

Here is a fun link from Brooklyn Botanic Garden, one of my favorite sites.

http://www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/kitchen/2002su_chayote.html

Z

Thank you for the reply MichaelZ. Interesting. Didn't know about trying them raw.

I slice them thin, peel, seed and all, for a salad.

Thirty foot vine, long season. Easy to get started, you can see the roots, just set the whole thing in a depression in a pot of soil to get it started, or into the ground. Or carefully pry the fruit from the seed. Best to have two for pollination.

Could make a winter's houseplant, maybe?,, then into the ground when it's thoroughly warm.

Search the forums. There's a whole thread that talked about growing these, as well as postings of more recipes. Search for Merliton....

I brought one home, planted it and then forgot about it as I didn't think it would grow. HA! It grew up a very tall straight tree and looking up 40', I see the chayotes hanging down!!! I can't harvest them and when they fall they will be all over the place!!!! The ends of the vines are blanched and eaten as a vegetable too!

That's funny!! Let us know if they do get ripe and fall. I found one in a pile at the vendor's that was fairly yellow compared to the others, bought it. It tasted like wonderful sweet corn! Maybe they're so bland because they're all green, not ripe. You know how unripe produce keeps and ships better than ripe.

I have one tall tree, the trunk is straight and bare for thirty feet. I am NOT going to plant a vine next to it, no, no, no, I tell myself. Everything else is so overgrown(overgroan?ha) that I enjoy that one tree trunk. It's a 'Tourist Tree", has red, peeling bark.

Interesting...IF (and that is a big IF) I can get one I will let it ripen. How did you prepare it?

Chop fine, seed and all, add to salad. Or boil a bit, like celery or any root.

Chayotes are called mirlitons in Southern US where they are consumed and loved. They are called Christophains or Cho-cho in Carribean and Central American places. I grew up on them. We usually cooked them, scooped the meat out and mixed it with breadcrumbs, meat or seafood, herbs and perhaps cheese and put the stuffing back in the shell. I loved this dish as a child. They were also pickled. You can find a pickling recipe for them in Emeril's book, Louisiana Real and Rustic. Any Cajun ( Acadian or South Louisiana) cookbook will give a recipe for stuffed mirliton or chayote.
They are easy to grow but only produce if you have a long growing season. Just put the seed ( the entire chayote) in the ground and give it a lot of room to spread. It is a large vine! It can grow on a fence or on the ground. It is no surprise that they grow in Hawaii where there is no frost. Here are a few recipes:

http://www.recipezaar.com/Mirliton-Casserole-193220

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1845,154189-238196,00.html

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1943,154186-241204,00.html

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1726,154167-232202,00.html

And there are many more if you search on "mirliton".

This is my first post but wanted to show all my Mirliton's currently growing in my backyard. I live in Southeast Louisiana, Zone 9. These are easy to grow but as stated by someone else, the vines grow about 30-40 ft. long. As you can see mine are growing on a page fence, the planters have Sugar Peas in them. I grew Tomato plants in them earlier this year with tomato cages. I left the cages in so the Peas could grow on them but as you can see the Mirlitons kind of took over. As of today I have picked about 25 with more growing. You really need a long growing season for them with lots of warm weather. They are defintely worth it.
http://marketplaceadvisor.channeladvisor.com/hi/54/53919/mirliton_vine.jpg
http://marketplaceadvisor.channeladvisor.com/hi/54/53919/mirliton.jpg

Ah, tropics, your mirliton pictures make me homesick. I used to grow them when I was a kid in New Orleans(Algiers). Your vines are beautiful and so is the fruit you linked to.

Thanks "pajaritomt", the links are both my own pics. The Mirlitons are beautiful and taste fabulous. Sorry about making you homesick, wish I could send you some. :-)

Don't apologize. There is something nice about remembering things past -- I can get them here, but they are each sold in a separate plastic bag. It was so much more fun to grow them myself. But our growing season is very short here. I am happy to see someone showing mirlitons on DG. Many people here don't know anything about them.

tropics4me,
you don't have to wish about sending me some! I'll come get mine, if I have your permission to stop by your place on my next trip home to New Orleans! Just LMK!

Linda

P.S. We were talking holiday recipes and a co-worker asked me just yesterday if I knew what a merliton was!!!

I came across this article this morning on using the chayote shoots as a green. The recipe suggests a sort of stir fry. I may have to try growing it again and not worry about getting fruits.

Z

http://www.laughingduckgardens.com/ldblog.php/2008/12/12/chayote-by-any-other-name/#more-150

That sounds very interesting! I never knew that you could eat the greens, but I know they it squash greens in India. Why not here?

tropics4me,

When do you harvest the fruit?

I lay the sprouting chayote on its side in a fairly large and keep it in a sunny spot
until spring when you can plant it out "after the weather is warm and settled". (It may take off though and you will have a window full of chayote leaves.

The flesh is like firm zuchinni. Use any zuchinni recipe.

I planted my seed in a pot and it is now has a sprout about 1 in high. I have it outside but I can surely take it inside as the freezes come and go this season. Ever since I have been reading about this veggie?/fruit? I have been wanting to grow it. Maybe I can harvest by next summer. Thanks to everyone for all their comments and information.
Susie

Hi "texasrockgarden", sorry for the absence. I planted my Mirliton sometime in March. As you can see from the post earlier, I started harvesting these in Novemeber. Wait till they are a little smaller than your hand or let them grow larger if you want. I have noticed it doesn't matter what size you grow them to, they can still be cooked the same, you just have more of it. They don't necessarliy ripen, there're like Bell Peppers, ready when you are. You don't want them to get so big they start to split though, so just judge on your own. Again, these take a long warm growing season, then they grow Mirlitons in the cool weather. I have picked at least 100 from the 2 vines I grew. By the way, this was my 3rd time trying....I didn't plant the first ones early enough so they didn't have enough time to root well and the others just weren't planted on the right angle for the vine and roots to grow. Good luck everyone with your Mirlitons, they sure are worth it.