Mystery fruit? (Ugly quince?)

[froeschli]

I got them because I thought the may just be ugly quinces?
But they have a pith, not a core (ok, I was 8 last time we had a quince tree, but I thought they had a core...)
Anyhow, anyone able to tell me what it is?
Just boiling them up now to see if they develop any flavour (a bit potato-like when raw).

 

[jamesngalveston]

quince has a core and very dark seeds,and more yellow then green when fully ripen...not sure what the heck that is.

 

[froeschli]

Yup, I've come to that same conclusion... It doesn't smell bad when cooked, almost in the right neighbourhood (somewhere between apple and pear I'd say).
Ah well, there I thought I'd scored 12 quinces for the price of 2. So much for quince jelly.
Now I may just have to use this as base for my chili wine....

 

[froeschli]

Mystery solved. Apparently it's a chayote. Relative to melons and squash, native to Mexico.
Used in stews, soups, salsas, salads, or broiled.

Can't find a recipe for chayote wine, but hey, what else am I going to do with 6lbs of them?
(DH came home, had a look, asked "you're not going to make wine with this, are you?")

 

[jamesngalveston]

your in ontario, where you get them from...

 

[cmason1957]

Why shouldn't you try to ferment them? They aren't moving, are they?

 

[Stressbaby]

They sell these in our little local supermarket in rural Missouri. They are readily available here.

 

[froeschli]

your in ontario, where you get them from...

Fortino's had them on the 99cent rack.... Else they would have been labelled

 

[froeschli]

Why shouldn't you try to ferment them? They aren't moving, are they?

Not moving (or furry, yet). Thy apparently contain a lot of starch, so I need to get some amylase.

I took the water from boiling them, added 1 can of welch's grape concentrate, some lemon juice and two jalapeños. Some sugar too, I think (it was a midnight wine experiment, again).
Pitched some yeast in it today.
Only had a 3l carboy left, that's why I didn't leave the solid stuff in it, and I am not going to use my plastic primary on jalapeños....
Now it's wait and see...