All About Alkaline Chayote Squash

Chayote is an alkaline edible plant and people eat it’s roots, stems, leaves, and seeds, but most of all people eat the fruit of the chayote plant.

The plant’s alkaline fruit is the chayote squash, but it is really not a squash. Chayote squash does belong to the same gourd family, Cucurbitaceae, as squash, melons, and cucumbers.

Chayote’s botanical name is Sechium edule. and it is native to Mexico^[1]. Europeans spread it throughout Central America, South America, the Caribbean, and Europe during the European conquest.

It’s English became “vegetable pear” or “pear squash,” while it become known as mirliton in North America.

In Jamaica people called it “cho-cho,” in Honduras “pataste,” and in Brazil “chuchu.”

Chayote Squash

People eat it as a vegetable, cooking it or eating it raw. It’s skin is pale green, and has a crisp creamy white flesh with a large white edible seed in the middle.

Eaten raw, chayote has nice crisp texture and a mild sweet taste. People compare it eating an apple. When boiled a littlee to retain some of its crispiness, people compare it to a cross between a summer squash and a mildly sweet pear.

Chayote Nutrition

Nutrition value per 1 chayote (203g)
(Source: USDA National Nutrient data base)

Chayote is high in fiber which protects against the development of a hiatus hernia and acid reflux. It feeds the good bacteria (immune system) in the colon and protects against colon diseases like colon cancer.

High In Vitamins

• Folate is also known as vitamin B9. It is crucial for proper brain function and mental and emotional health. The body uses folate to aid in the production of DNA and RNA. It uses folate and vitamin B12 to make red blood cells, and to utilize iron properly.^[2]
• Vitamin C helps the body absorb the non-heme iron found in plant foods, and is a powerful antioxidant that protects against free radical damage. The body uses vitamin C to make collagen for making blood vessels, skin, cartilage, tendons, and ligaments.^[3]
• Vitamin K helps the body optimize the use of vitamin D, and strengthens the heart by protecting against the hardening of arteries. Vitamin K also protects against osteoporosis and cancer.^[4]
• Vitamin B6 helps to make neurotransmitters, serotonin, norepinephrine, and melatonin. Vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 together help to make red blood cells, and helps to make immune system cells.^[5]

High In Minerals

• Manganese helps the body form connective tissue. Found mostly in bones to help control calcium absorption. Helps in blood clotting, brain and nerve function, and the production of sex hormones.^[6]
• Copper helps the brain and nerves transmit messages throughout the body. Copper supports the health of nerves and the immune system, and helps make collagen for bones, connective tissue, and red blood cells. Also, copper helps to make energy, and to absorb iron.^[7]
• Zinc supports the immune system by aiding in the productions of killer T-cells. Zinc is also involved in cell growth and division, and the healing of physical injuries.^[8]
• Potassium is a ver important electrolyte that helps to conduct electricity throughout the body, and it plays a critical role in heart and muscle function.^[9]

Chayote Benefits

Its leaves and fruits contain phytonutrients that are supportive of cardio vascular health and anti-inflammatory properties.^[10]

The leaves and fruit have diuretic properties and people use them in traditional medicine to relieve urine retention, and burning during urination.

In addition, people used them to treat arteriosclerosis, hypertension, and kidney disorders.

Growing Chayote

You can plant the whole chayote fruit to grow another plant.

When starting to grow a the plant pick a mature chayote squash, because it will give the seed a better chance to sprout.

After choosing a mature fruit, put the squash in a plastic bag a loosely wrap it up.

Depending on the maturity of the seed and the temperature germination my take weeks, so you may need to have patience with it sprouting.

Once the fruit develops a sprout plant the chayote in a pot with loose and moist dirt, and leave the top of the chayote uncovered.

The chayote squash contains a lot of water and nutrients to feed the seed, so don’t water the plant too much because it can make it rot.

Once the the plant grows, with proper pruning, one seed can develop into plant that can produce between 50 and 100 chayote squash.

View the video to see the sprouting of a seed, the development of the plant, and the plant’s productions of many chayote squash.

Cooking Chayote

You can eat it raw without peeling the skin.

My favorite way of eating chayote is to boil it in water, and you don’t need to remove the skin because it is edible.

When eating chayote either raw or cooked, make sure to give it a good wash to remove any remaining dirt or contamination from its handing.

Slice the chayote into 4 equal pieces, and add the chayote to a pot with enough water to cover it. Turn to fire to high and bring the water to a boil.

After the water has started to boil, reduce the heat to a medium fire and let the chayote cook for 10-15 minutes.

You want the chayote to soften, yet you don’t want it to become too soft where it loses its crispiness.

Test the chayote as it cooks by sticking it with a long fork so your hand doesn’t get close to the hot water.

The chayote is ready when the fork can penetrate it while there is still some resistance. If the fork penetrates too easily, you have overcooked it.

Remove the chayote from the water, plate it, and season it. I like the boiled chayote with a little sea salt, a sprinkle of cayenne pepper, and a drizzle of coconut oil.

Chayote Squash Recipes

In addition to boiling the chayote, you can bake, fry, mash, stuff it, or make it into a soup.

Chayote Vegetable Mushroom Soup

This recipe uses alkaline foods on Dr. Sebi Nutritional Guide »

2 large chayote squash, peeled and chopped
1 lb oyster mushrooms, chopped
1 cup quinoa
and 1 small red and green bell pepper chopped
2 tbsp grapeseed oil
1/2 lb kamut spiral pasta
Spring Water
2 onions chopped finely
2-3 bunches kale
1 clove
1/2 tsp: oregano, thyme, and red pepper

Directions:

Cook mushrooms, bell peppers, and onions slowly in a pan using medium heat for 20 minutes
Add mushroom mixture in soup pot and fill with spring water
Then add in chayote squash, quinoa, rosemary, oregano, thyme, red pepper, and cloves, and simmer 45 minutes
Add kamut pasta and simmer for 15 min

You can find more chayote recipes here.

Where to Buy Chayote Squash

Chayote is popular in many Spanish dishes, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to find chayote in supermarkets and bodegas in Spanish and Mexican neighborhoods.