Unlike its many-seeded cousins, the chayote [cha yo' tay] contains a single seed. The fruit is usually planted whole lying on its side. The seed sends out its roots and stem from the bottom of the fruit. The vines are trained to an overhead support so the fruit hangs and can be readily picked from below.

Hanging also serves a second purpose. The chayote is a soft fruit that bruises easily; dangling from the vine prevents damage that would shorten its shelf life. Even undamaged, the fruit does not store well and should be prepared and eaten shortly after picking. The vine, though, makes up for the fruit's short life. The vine is tough and grows as much as ten meters (30 feet) in a year. With care, the plants produce well for three years; some have produced fruit for up to eight.

The chayote is a multipurpose plant; the tuberous roots can be cooked and eaten like potatoes. The new and tender shoots are used as pot-herbs (boiled as a vegetable). The strong flexible vines were woven into basketry. The leaves, steeped as a tea, dissolved kidney stones and relieved hypertension.

Because the fruit and seed decay rapidly, the chayote is a botanical mystery. From early Spanish recorders, we know the Aztecs grew chayotli, but there are no remains of this fruit at any archaeological sites. No one knows when humans began cultivating it and enjoying the cucumber-zucchini taste or the nutty flavor of the seed.

(Compiled from: "Chayote", Hortus Third, Staff L.H. Bailey Hortorium, NY State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Macmillan, NY, 1976 and "Chayote (Sechium edule)", R. Lira Saade, Neglected Crops: 1492 from a Different Perspective, J.E. Hernando Bermejo and J. Leon, eds., FAO, Rome, 1994)