Chayote: The Vegetable Pear
|
The chayote, or vegetable pear, is a perennial climbing vine that requires four to five months of frost-free days to arrive at the harvest stage. Its nutritional contents include potassium, vitamin C, manganese, calcium, etc. It may grow up to fifty feet. The chayote produces both male and female blossoms, which require bees for pollination. If you do not want to leave it up to the bees, you can plant two vines and let them cross-pollinate. The chayote likes warm weather, but it will grow in zone 8 if you mulch it thickly.
Irrigation Take care not to let the soil dry out. Avoid getting the fruit too moist, as it is quite susceptible to rot. Producing plants need deep watering once weekly. Mulch the chayote to assist in conserving moisture, especially during dry and hot weather. Established chayotes require a lot of water. Be careful, however, with irrigation sprinklers. They can disrupt bee activities. Feeding At planting time and while the fruits are still small, side dress the chayote with compost tea spray. During mid-season, side dress with well-rotted manure or aged compost . Side dressing means applying the plant feed away from its root zone. Pests and Diseases Aphids and pumpkin beetles are potential problems. Just hose them off with water. If you have nematodes, try container gardening. There is no known serious disease afflicting the chayote. Harvesting Using a hand pruner or a knife, harvest the chayote just about anytime, depending on your purpose. To pickle, you can harvest at two or three inches in diameter. For slicing or eating raw, you may want to wait until it is a little over half grown. By all means, harvest when it is about five or six inches in diameter as the fruit needs to be still tender. You would not want the fruit after it has become hard. Do not eat fruits that have shown any signs of germination. Preserving Chayote The fruit can be canned or frozen. Fresh chayote will keep in the refrigerator for one week. Place in a loosely tied plastic bag. How to Cook Chayote Wash thoroughly but carefully. Generally, you can eat the chayote tubers like you would root vegetables. The leathery skin of a mature chayote is not edible.
The edible parts are the fruit, the young shoots, and the mature tubers. A medium-sized fruit has about 50 calories. One chayote vine can feed a family of four
|
|
