Chayote - Dried, Preserved & Baked in a Pie

Frost finally took serious hold which meant it was time for a last Chayote harvest before putting the plants to bed.  Friends who have been making the plant based burgers and Chayote leaf salad from my earlier blog post have asked for other recipe ideas to deal with their fruit glut.

If you own a dehydrator, Chayote can be dried and stored for later use.

Prior to dehydrating we blanch (optional) , then soak for half an hour in a yacon syrup (other flavours works as well) with a sprinkle of salt. Once dried they make a

lovely snack or can be combined with other ingredients for dried seasoning and rubs.

Chayote is also a good ingredient for both pickles and ferments. This is one of our favourite lacto-ferments. If you are into gut health it's a quick and easy way to store and use vegetables, just water, salt (whey if you are nervous of salt only) and aromatics of your choice. We love to vary flavours from bottle to bottle but firm favorites include bay, perennial basils, Caribbean thyme and szechuan pepper. Smaller fruits are delicious in apple cider vinager with onions, garlic cloves, black peppercorns and a few Kaffir lime leaves or Vietnamese coriander.

Aside from vegetable burgers, our favorite recipe for Chayote fruits are in a seasonal

autumn pie. We have several pies and savory pastries in this vein. Where autumn harvests such as Chayote and sweet potatos are merged with winter staples like beets, Skirret and salsify. It's also a chance for a

final farewell to the leaves of the tropical plants that have been a staple on our plates since the start of May.

Like so much in our diet, this is a pie of two parts, the things we grow and make and those we buy. The grow and make includes a fermented nut cheese like the one in a previous blog, (any meltable cheese is fine for this recipe). We also use Chayote leaves and the liquid squeezed from them. The buy is a trio of our favourite mushrooms

 from our local farmers market (in this case Oyster, King Oyster and small portobello) and ingredients for the pie crusts.

Chayote has a delicate sweetness but what we prize most is its ability to soak up other flavours. We use this to best advantage by

sautéing in flavoured oil at the beginning of either stir fries or pie fillings before setting aside for later use.                                             

We use our own homegrown dried mixes these include combinations of tomatoes, sweet peppers, chillies, shallots, guavas, and a selection of fruits, herbs and spices. When I prepare Chayote for a pie or stir fry I like to use a roasted tomato, sweet pepper mild chilli fermented lemon and guava mix

However the flavours are very much down to individual preference. We love the way these flavours blend together and merge 

with others in the dish. We add 2 teaspoons of the mix and a sprinkle of salt crystals to hot rapeseed oil and allow to combine

before adding the Chayote and cooking for a few minutes. It should remain crisp but well flavoured and should be set aside in a bowl to add to the other ingredients later. 

The mushrooms are chopped and added to the pan, starting with the king oyster which is sweated a few minutes before adding the oyster and finally the portobellos. We like to add a splash of raw cider vinager and a little miso before adding 2 chopped onions. When the onions are transparent we add , 

the Chayote leaves and cook through for a few minutes makings sure it is well mixed. (If you don't have Chayote leaves you can use finely chopped kale or chard instead.)  At this point we return the diced fruits to 

the pan along with the juice from the leaves. Vegetable or other stock is fine as a substitute for providing the moisture.     

Once the filling is done we set it aside to cool and turn our attention to the crust. 

We like to have a light crust so use 75 percent white flour to 25 percent freshly ground flaxseeds. We add a pinch of salt and use coconut butter which we rub in to 

a breadcrumb consistency. To this we add liquid. In this case homemade almond milk, but buttermilk or even water is fine. Once this is added we pull the mixture together 

into balls as if making scones, so minimum handling. I put the pastry dough into the fridge for about 30 minutes before rolling out, I find this help to stop any sticking. 

After adding the filling to the pie case we top it with cut cheese and sliced Skirret roots, though thinly sliced sweet potatoes  make an equally tasty alternative root.   

Once made, we freeze the bulk of these pies only refrigerating the ones intended for immediate use.  The pies can be defrosted or cooked from frozen. We have an electric oven so bake for 25 to 30 minutes at 185. The longest we have stored these pies is 6 months and they were as delicious thawed and baked as when they were first made.    

Having said that there is nothing I enjoy more than a freshly baked autumn pie with fermented chayote fruits and steamed chayote  leaves.                                                                    

Pumpkin - Growing for the Fruit

Pumpkin 'flour' is a staple ingredient in our kitchen year round. Our pumpkins are all

homegrown, tucked into the ends of raised beds and boxes in garden and allotment plots, then allowed to ramble wherever space allows. We have always grown the trailing varieties even where space was limited because we found them more robust, flavoursome and less demanding than bush varieties. We simply trimmed back the plants to fit the space and used the waste materials as a cooking ingredient.

We start our pumpkins in our Keder Greenhouse early in the year. We sow them by the end of March using additional fleece cover until germination and then during really cold periods. This allows us to prick out and repot several times.

In this way we are able to grow a really decent size root ball in this cosseted space. This allows the plant to get off to a strong start once planted out into the ground.          

We plant out in the last week of April in boxes and the first week of May in raised beds. We warm the soil for a couple of weeks prior and water in with warm water. Experience has taught us to plant a maximum of 2 plants in any location or risk stunted growth and poor fruit setting. I must confess that when planting I also put down an outer ring of cheap salt away from the roots and add some shredded plant material as a bit of early slug protection. Once planted, we  also cover the plants with fleece and keep this protection in place constantly,  except for the occasional warm days.      

           

  By early June the plants are pretty much established, surprisingly robust and able to mostly shrug off slug and snail attacks. We like to put down a heavy mulch around the roots while we are still able to reach them without some accidental plant damage. By  

the end of the month the first fruits are getting to a good size and we are able to do some light leaf harvesting which provide ingredients for a range of early summer dishes. With an eye to storage life we try to make sure fruits are not sitting directly on soil or on their bottom. Where they are, we simply move or turn them on their sides. The plants are finally producing a decent mix of male and female flowers giving us the chance to isolate and hand pollinate for fruits we want to keep true.      

Come July fruits are well on their way and we have a good idea what level of  cropping each vine is likely to offer. This year fruit development was faster than the norm with visible ripening on some early setters; no doubt due to the weird weather. Fortunately we always make sure the vines run over some bare turned earth so they can put down supplementary roots, the better to feed developing fruits. I always leave markers beside these patches for  ease of location later on in the season.

August is peak growing with leaves romping away and fruits of a decent size. This is when I put rich compost around the secondary  roots using the markers to locate them. The plants are relatively trouble free right now. Apart from making sure they get enough water we can just stand by and admire the beauty and drama of these remarkable plants.

By September pumpkin plant growth and fruit setting have slowed. We keep an eye out for downy mildew which experience have taught can erupt and spread as fast as August growth. We take mildew seriously because it not only destroy our leaf harvest, but ultimately lead to reduced yields and stunted, malformed later fruits. We are ruthless at the allotment. The minute we spot mildew on the site we take action to protect our plants. We use a combination of Neem oil and bicarbonate of soda to make up a spray and try to cover all the plants with a pre-emptive treatment. We keep watch removing old and damaged leaves which seems to be the first targets of any infection. In the garden downy mildew is easier to control. For a start, we have fewer plants and there are fewer local growers so removing old and damaged leaves and a good spraying usually serve us well.

In a normal year we start harvesting pumpkins in mid-October. This year the bulk of the fruits were ripe and ready by the beginning of October.

Over the years we have seen the season lengthen as autumn weather stretched frost free as late as early December in some years. Now if we are really lucky and the weather stays mild, pumpkins that start setting at the end of August and even into early September can often grow to maturity as long as we remain frost free.

This year we have six of these stragglers hanging around the garden. All have reached a decent size and hopefully have a few more frost free weeks to continue curing on the vine.

Whether or not we end up with fully ripe late bonus fruits, once the harvest is in, the main purpose of our crop, making flour, can begin.