Chayote shoots

Sechium edule · Vegetable

40 pairings

Chayote shoots (Sechium edule) are the tender vine tips, young leaves, tendrils and soft stems of the chayote plant, eaten as a cooked leafy green rather than for its familiar pear-shaped fruit. Known as tayota greens or, in the Philippines, sayote tops, they are a mild, sweet, faintly grassy green with a soft, slightly crisp bite — quickly stir-fried, blanched or dropped into soups — and a cheap, abundant vegetable across Latin America, the Caribbean and Southeast Asia.

Picking a good onedrag

Curled tendrils, stems snap wetLimp, stringy, yellowing

Market freshThe all-rounder: stir-fry with garlic and sesame oil, blanch for a dressed salad, or drop into tinola and soups at the last minute.Everyday best

Tips and tendrilsCoils relaxed, leaves open and flat but even green

Stem snapSnaps, but the break face is already dry

The liftStands, then bows over slowly

Smell at the cut endsGreen and mild, close to nothing at all

What to look for, from curled tendrils, stems snap wet to limp, stringy, yellowing.

Preparing