We’ve all be confronted with something in the fresh produce display that stumps us. It may be dark and knobby from deep in the earth or flamboyantly colorful from warm, exotic climes. You’re tempted to try it, but what on earth do you do with it?
Familiarity with chokos rather depends on your age. If your childhood happened 40 years ago, chances are you remember a choko vine growing over the shed. They thrived very easily and in summer were heavy with lumpy, prickly gourd fruits. Even if you remember the vine, you may not have eaten the product.
Chokos were regarded as austerity food, resorted to in times of war or economic depression, and happily ignored in better times.
There are more aliases for the fruit/vegetable than there are recipes – in the West Indies it’s a christophine, because it can look like a clenched fist it’s called a Buddha’s hand gourd in China, its also called a custard marrow, chaco, xuxu, and, most commonly, chayote, the name they go by in their native South America. Only here and in New Zealand is it a choko.
Depending on how kindly you feel towards chokos, they have a delicate or insipid flavour. You can either exploit their ability to take on other flavours (they used to be used to bulk out stewed apples) by mixing them with tomatoes and onions, or sauté them with fennel and lemon juice, or stuff them like a marrow.
Or you can match their delicate flavour with fish and cook them very lightly so as to retain their bright colour and firm texture. You can cut them into large matchsticks (including the edible seed) and put them in a pot with just a splash of water and a little butter and salt and pepper to season. Cook over a moderate heat for a couple of minutes and serve with fish.
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