PlantFiles: Chayote, Mirliton, Cho Ko, Cho-Cho, Vegetable Pear, Christophene
Sechium edule

This squash is tasty julienned, dredged in flour, and fried like small french fries. The vine itself can be rampant, so plant where you would like a fence or trellis covered. Chayote makes up for its wild behavior by bearing prolifically. The vines have survived winters in zone 8a (in FL) and possibly further north, however it needs at least a 6 month growing season to set fruit. Would definitely recommend this squash for veggie gardeners with a sizable garden plot and/or lots of vertical support.

This plant grows quite freely in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
It grows practically wild. It is a real treat to eat. It is like a
squash.
It is good steamed or boiled. Serve with a pat of butter and a little salt & pepper. It is wonderful stuffed with
minced beef or lamb or shrimp ( par boil,cut in half, stuff and place in the oven for a 20 -30 minutes)

This is one of the easiest plants to germinate. I just let the fruit start to shrivel at room temperature in the kitchen and it actually germinates without any soil! I plant them when the vine gets over 4 inches long and when the roots start to form but you can just bury fruits in a mound and they will germinate. I like to trellis mine but some people grow them as sprawling vines on the ground. They grow very fast and have pretty cucumber like leaves. You can even grow them on fences.

This plant is known in South Africa as Shoe-Shoe, Sjoe-Sjoe or Tjoe-Tjoe. We are in the Western Cape (Winter rainfall - Temperate) and are currently trying to grow a plant to see if we can get any fruit as we've only encountered it growing in more tropical areas and we love the taste!!

According to the Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database, there are 6 types (cultivars).
Dark-green-fruited, Pale-green-fruited, Round-fruited, Spiny-fruited, Thin-fruited & White-fruited.

Good to eat and grows well--Plant the whole fruit with the stem end up and exposed.The fruit has some short but sharp thorns on the bottom of the more mature fruit. Produces a rampant vine /needs good support/not frost tolerant/fruit and large starchy root is eddible/root will grow back next year if mulched to prevent frost damage/vine flowers and fruits only during short days of fall and winter/harvest from november till frost /can weigh over 2 lbs/likes rich well drained soil/I have seen no pests yet.Eat-creamed,fried,boiled,buttered,and canned,good in salad.