Chayote -Sechium edule

Chayote is so, so good! :>)

It is quite popular veggie here but they do not sell it up north where we live. We do not have many "southeners" there (I do not blame them). We have lots of Chinese and all the ingredients for their cuisine.

That's strange. Maybe because it's not grown locally?

It grows here very well. The vine can take over a whole tree...I've seen it many times.

I just notice to the right all the guaje beans pods. Guaje (Leucaena leucocephala or gluaca) grows wild here in the parks.

Oh yes, these beans are sold everywhere. I bought bunch from a little boy selling them on the street but did not know what to do with them so I gave them to our housekeeper. She was very happy. Later I leaned that they grind them and use them as a spice...in everything.
I do not know how the tree look like . Seems to me that every second tree has some kind of seed pods.

I've heard and read the fresh seeds are used in cooking, also.

That was never sold in California in my youth. Then,in the late 1980's it started to show up at local markets. My father was in heaven. That,and Jicama ...took him back to street vendors and lime and salsa.
Like they say - you become your father...

Oh,and Cilantro about 1988 came in. Oh!...

I know there was a lot of people in Hayward who used to grow them. This is when I was a kid.

You were a kid in the 80's.

By the 90's my relatives were planting them in Oakland. I tried a couple of times. Gophers.

I love Jicama with lime and chili powder (sold under name "Tajin")..... also sold by street vendors here :-) and it would not be a real salsa without little bit of cilantro.

Stan:

You're too kind! I'm talking about the late 60's and early 70's. My dad was really into many types of plants, so were my grandmothers and aunts. My interest in plants go way back. :>). I originally joined the International Palm Society back in 1984, so I remember the Palmetum in Oakland when it was a very young garden.

I moved to San Jose in 1980...then moved back to Hayward in early 1983.