# So, How Many People Have Eaten a Choko? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 21, 2012, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-people-have-eaten-a-choko/635394 "2012-09-21T14:12:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-people-have-eaten-a-choko/635394/21 "2012-09-24T00:09:37Z")
My Grandma used to use these in her apple pies, as an apple extender. Gotta love the old thriftiness of a great depression survivor. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-people-have-eaten-a-choko/635394/22 "2012-09-24T00:14:20Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > I eat them every once in while. I stir fry them and toss garlic salt and pepper on them. They are quite deilcious that way. That proves next to nothing. You could stir fry toilet paper with a load of garlic, salt and pepper and it would be tasty. šŸ˜› ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-people-have-eaten-a-choko/635394/23 "2012-09-24T00:17:25Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > I stir fry them and toss garlic salt and pepper on them. They are quite deilcious that way. This could be said about pretty much anything! šŸ˜‰ ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-people-have-eaten-a-choko/635394/24 "2012-09-24T12:23:41Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Ahh christophene! I have it all the time in stir fry, you can barely tell what it is by taste once it is cooked. > > I was like whats a choko? Oh christophene. When we are in Barbados, my wife often buys a couple and juliennes them into salads. At home she does the same with celeriac and the results are similar. They both are almost without flavor. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-people-have-eaten-a-choko/635394/25 "2012-09-24T16:52:14Z")
Moving from MPSIMS to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Phedre\_no\_Delaunay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/839c29/32.png) [@Phedre\_no\_Delaunay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phedre_no_Delaunay)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-people-have-eaten-a-choko/635394/26 "2012-09-25T02:35:20Z")
Chokos are the KING of the squashes. I seriously love them. I have to get my husband to peel them and cut them up because in their raw state they irritate my skin for some reason, but sauteed with a little salt, YUM. Delish! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-people-have-eaten-a-choko/635394/27 "2012-09-25T02:47:45Z")
> [@Phedre\_no\_Delaunay](#): > > Chokos are the KING of the squashes. I seriously love them. I have to get my husband to peel them and cut them up because in their raw state they irritate my skin for some reason, but sauteed with a little salt, YUM. Delish! Huh. Iā€™ve never peeled chayoteā€“at least not the green kind. (Iā€™ve never bought the furry brown kind.) The skin is pretty soft and not much different in texture than the flesh itself. At least the green kind available around here. > [@Hari Seldon](#): > > Oh christophene. When we are in Barbados, my wife often buys a couple and juliennes them into salads. At home she does the same with celeriac and the results are similar. They both are almost without flavor. Iā€™m surprised you find celeriac almost without flavor. I find it a particularly strong flavored root vegetable (and one that I like.) Just to check that Iā€™m not crazy, I looked at a few sources online, and they all seem to describe it as having a strong flavor. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-people-have-eaten-a-choko/635394/28 "2012-09-25T05:27:19Z")
How about a [Chocko party](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6685078570737229515)? ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-people-have-eaten-a-choko/635394/29 "2012-09-25T05:54:54Z")
In New Orleans they call them mirlitons. To me, the flavor is a little like cucumber. I neither love them not hate them. BTW, the big seeds inside are edible. ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-people-have-eaten-a-choko/635394/30 "2012-09-25T09:57:18Z")
Chiming in with the other Australians here. People of a certain generation had the choko vine in the back yard, and were subjected to endless meals where the meat and three veg included choko. I was convinced there should have been a Geneva convention against this. When boiled, they looked a bit like pears, and had that texture, but oh deception! They tasted like bath water, and the disconnect between the texture and flavour was a crime against all that is holy. I heard later (probably a UL) that unscrupulous canners would cut them to the shape of pears, pack them with pear juice and sell them as tinned fruit. I think there was a black economy in discharging social obligations by bringing around a basket of chokos to someone as a gesture of ā€œnicenessā€ when the giver was really just trying to get rid of the damn things. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-people-have-eaten-a-choko/635394/31 "2012-09-25T11:19:19Z")
I tried it for the first time last year - itā€™s ok I mean, if you already like squashes, itā€™s more of the same. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-people-have-eaten-a-choko/635394/32 "2012-09-25T11:53:22Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Iā€™m surprised you find celeriac almost without flavor. I find it a particularly strong flavored root vegetable (and one that I like.) Just to check that Iā€™m not crazy, I looked at a few sources online, and they all seem to describe it as having a strong flavor. I had the same reaction. I cut my mashed potato with boiled mashed celeraic ā€“ delicious ā€“ but plain, celeraic has a strong flavor to me. I wouldnā€™t compare it to choyote at all (which, as all have said, is very bland on its own). ---
**Author:** ![Beastly\_Rotter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@Beastly\_Rotter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beastly_Rotter)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-people-have-eaten-a-choko/635394/33 "2012-09-25T20:17:22Z")
They pickle really well. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-people-have-eaten-a-choko/635394/34 "2012-09-26T04:52:50Z")
> [@Noel\_Prosequi](#): > > I think there was a black economy in discharging social obligations by bringing around a basket of chokos to someone as a gesture of ā€œnicenessā€ when the giver was really just trying to get rid of the damn things. My father used to bemoan the fact that he couldnā€™t offload the ghastly things onto the neighbours because the vine ran along everyoneā€™s back fence for the length of the whole street. Everyone had a surplus of them. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-people-have-eaten-a-choko/635394/35 "2012-09-26T05:19:17Z")
> [@Noel\_Prosequi](#): > > I think there was a black economy in discharging social obligations by bringing around a basket of chokos to someone as a gesture of ā€œnicenessā€ when the giver was really just trying to get rid of the damn things. Sounds like chokos serve the same role in Australia that zucchinis do in the U.S. Planting zucchini is a really great way to meet your neighbors. One zucchini plant can produce enough to feed a whole neighborhood. At least chokos donā€™t grow from normal edible size to two feet long in less than a week (as far as I know). ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-people-have-eaten-a-choko/635394/36 "2012-09-26T05:46:54Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > I am wondering their purpose on earth. I always thought their only purpose was to cover up an ugly outhouse. Iā€™ve also only ever eaten them in stews etc to make the rest of the meal go further. I donā€™t think Iā€™ve tasted (if thatā€™s the correct word for such an untasty vegetable) since 1965. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-people-have-eaten-a-choko/635394.md?page=1)