We have four chayote vines growing well at the moment. We were inspired by the ones that I found in the road last year after a storm. I didn’t know what they were and needed to read up on them, and as they appear to grow so prolifically in the area, I thought they would be worth trying.
They don’t flower and fruit until the days are shorter than the nights – so it’s only been a while since they started flowering. I can see two biggish fruit and lots of flowers so we may have a reasonable harvest.
We cooked the ones I found last year in a sort of stir-fry, but looking at recipes, they seem to be used in a variety of ways – so I guess we’ll find out more when they are ready to pick.
It will be quite handy as we’re coming to the end of our courgette mountain, so this will be a good replacement.
We have tree tomatoes growing too (inspired by the same garden where I found the chayotes), but I think it will be a couple more years before we get fruit. They were another thing I was unfamiliar with when I found them in the road, but this year I may try to collect them before they get squished and see what we can do with them.
Both chayotes and tree tomatoes are native to south America, and one thing we have noticed is the influence of South America here, much more so than Extremadura where the influence was more towards north Africa.