Chayote

You’ll remember I bought a mysterious chayote the other day.

For brunch, we had croissants, and I thought I’d serve the chayote on the side as fresh fruit, seeing as it seemed fruit-like. Mr Pandammonium tried it, then tried to fob it off on me, but I was having none of it. It tasted of nothing until a hint of something familiar wafted in, and the texture was crunchy, but not nice crunchy like an apple.

I looked up chayote on Wikipedia. It said that raw, it’s ‘unpalatable’ and has the texture of a potato crossed with a cucumber. It’s actually a gourd, so it’s treated like a squash – that is, it’s cooked before eating. It can be served raw, but chopped up into a salsa or thinly sliced and dipped in a dressing. You don’t just eat it.

It’s called a mirliton in British English, according to Wikipedia, but the Oxford Dictionary of English lists mirliton as a US English alternative of chayote.

I’m vaguely considering buying another one to try cooked.