Growing Chayote (Vegetable Pears): Dine Like An Aztec

Image Gallery Learn to grow chayote, the delicious Mexican staple, for a fun and savory squash-like treat.

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Any home gardener who likes to experiment with new and unusual varieties of vegetables should try growing chayote vines. They're easy to grow, have a high yield of savory and nutritious fruit, and really aren't new at all, but were a favorite crop of the ancient Aztecs and are still grown by many present-day Mexicans.

I had assumed — when I was introduced to the squash-like treat while on vacation in Mexico — that the chayote was a tropical product to be enjoyed only south of the border. Therefore, I was delighted, upon my return home, to find the fruit in our California supermarket. (It'd probably been there all along, and I just hadn't noticed it.)

The Many Names of Chayote

I found out, too, that these Mexican fruits, which the Aztecs called chayotli, are now widely grown in tropical and subtropical areas around the world. They are known as christophine or mirliton to Caribbeans, chocho to Madeirans, pipinella to Italians, and pipinola to Hawaiians. (The plant's scientific name is Sechium edule, but most North Americans call them "vegetable pears.")

Where Chayote Grows

Being a home gardener myself, I wanted to grow my own "patch" of chayote, and wondered if they'd survive in California's central valley. A little research soon told me that my area's climate would suit the import well. The vine requires a 150-day growing season (between hard frosts) and is planted occasionally in gardens across the southern United States. (A light winter frost kills back the greenery, but doesn't destroy the roots, which — come spring — send up new plants. And in even more northerly areas, the vegetable pear can sometimes be grown as an annual, or be wintered over in a greenhouse.)

Planting Chayote

In the course of my studies, I also discovered that the almond-sized chayote seed can't be dried and saved for planting: It germinates only inside the fruit — and will often do so while still on the vine — so the seed must be planted with its fleshy "shell" intact. The vegetable pear grower's first step, then, is to locate a market (try an area with a large Spanish-speaking population) where chayote is sold in the late fall. (It doesn't matter if the fruit has been in cold storage and plastic-wrapped.) Buy several . . . put them away in a dark, cool (not frosty) place . . . and wait. The seed sprout will emerge and lengthen in the darkness. By February it should be approximately six inches long.

Then, if your area — like most parts of North America — isn't yet frost-free, put the sprouted chayote in a pot with the tip of the new growth just peeping out of the soil. Set it in a sunny window, keep it watered, and plant it outdoors once the weather is warm enough. (Should you live in a zone, like ours, that usually stays above freezing in February, you can simply plant the germinated fruit wherever you want it to grow.)

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