5 December 2005

Wile E. Chayote

When it was my birthday this year, Owen found me a card with kissing fruit on it (bear with me, this is more interesting and less cutesy than it sounds). An artfully posed strawberry with a black-eyed bean for an eye appeared to be kissing the cheek of a rather gummy looking lime green face fashioned from yet more black-eyed peas and some unidentifiable (to us) fruit.

Neither of us had ever seen anything like it. Was it a mis-shapen apple? We weren’t convinced. A melon of some kind? It seemed a bit small for that. Still, it was my birthday and there were more important things (margaritas and fancy dress to name only two) to worry about than identifying exotic fruit. A girl’s gotta partay!

The card has stayed in the living room (yes, that is a long time, you’re right) and from time to time we’ve picked it up, had a look and a wonder without ever getting round to doing anything more active about finding out.

Then, last week on my way home on the 50 the bus stopped outside a greengrocer’s in Balsall Heath and out of the window I spotted a whole pile of the intriguing things. Alas, no identifying label, but at least now I knew that it was a fruit in its own right rather than a mutant one-off. Tonight the under-gardener was with me on the 50 and we both spotted them at the grocer’s so I also knew I wasn’t hallucinating - always a distinct possibility on the 50 which is also sometimes known as ‘the marijuana express’.

Tonight, after a bit of a search, I finally discovered that we’ve been looking at a chayote squash. At least I think so - in this picture they do look a bit darker and shinier than the one on my card and I think these guys are a bit more ridged too. What do you think? They are, apparently, extremely versatile as the stone can be cooked and eaten as well as the flesh. I should get off the bus and buy one.

PS. I am, of course, the strawberry and my gardening assistant is therefore the chayote. Well, it does look a bit like him.

Filed under: Mulch — Clare @ 9:46 pm