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Jonathon came back from his trip South. He visited the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, and the botanic gardens in Canberra and Melbourne. Being from sunny Scotland he was entranced by the gardens and especially the native plants. The beans went into the pumpkin patch and peas into the spare bit where the Paw-Paws expired.
Annie has been defending her choko's honour nobly - don't know why, death to all chokoes I say. Googled Choko. The Age website described it as an "unusual climbing plant, Sechium edule, which belongs to the pumpkin family and is a single species native to tropical America." Did Mother Nature conduct an experiment that wasn't worth going on with? Should we buy all chokoes a ticket back home??? Stephanie Alexander has devoted a whole chapter of one of her books to the choko, goodness knows why.
It is known as Chayotl, christophine, vegetable pear,mirliton, mango squash, Buddha's hand gourd and Alligator pear - still a choko though.
So in case we have the expected glut, here is one way of pretending what you have is not a choko
Choko Pickles
Ingredients
1.5 kg chokos
1 kg onions
½ cup salt
1 l brown vinegar.
1 cup plain flour
2 cups sugar
1 dessertspoon each of turmeric, mustard powder, curry powder
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1 kg onions
½ cup salt
1 l brown vinegar.
1 cup plain flour
2 cups sugar
1 dessertspoon each of turmeric, mustard powder, curry powder
½ teaspoon ground ginger
Preparation
Peel and slice the chokos and onions and sprinkle with salt. Leave them to stand overnight, then strain and rinse the next morning. Place in a saucepan with the brown vinegar and simmer until tender.
Mix the dry ingredients to a paste with a small amount of vinegar, then add to the choko mixture, bringing it back to the boil for about five minutes. Cool a little, then bottle into clean glass jars.
Now that the warm weather is here we have murmured about meeting on Wednesday in the late afternoon/evening for a social session - Mocktails and Nibbles as the sun goes down maybe? Also a yearning for bird baths. A large shallow terracotta dish is just right and won't breed mossies. And - when we are sitting on the benches near the old hall we would just love to look at something green and growing up against the cream brick of the new hall - Passion Fruit vines? Might inhibit the outdoor artists with their spray cans too.
Mix the dry ingredients to a paste with a small amount of vinegar, then add to the choko mixture, bringing it back to the boil for about five minutes. Cool a little, then bottle into clean glass jars.
Now that the warm weather is here we have murmured about meeting on Wednesday in the late afternoon/evening for a social session - Mocktails and Nibbles as the sun goes down maybe? Also a yearning for bird baths. A large shallow terracotta dish is just right and won't breed mossies. And - when we are sitting on the benches near the old hall we would just love to look at something green and growing up against the cream brick of the new hall - Passion Fruit vines? Might inhibit the outdoor artists with their spray cans too.
