Growing choko from seed is easy! All you need is a choko…
Whether you have a huge garden, a shade house, a cobblestone slab or a windowsill, there are many places and spaces you can cultivate your home-grown edibles, even in winter.
Welcome to the world of choko.
I was given a choko a few weeks back and was curious to see if it would seed. Inside the choko is a large seed pod but I wasn’t prepared to plant it in the garden knowing there were plenty of Waikato winter frosts ahead of me.
I cut the choko in half and sat it in a tea-cup on my windowsill….for several weeks. Low and behold it grew roots very happily in the water and a few young sprouts headed for sunlight!
But as you can see by the photo above, you don’t necessarily need to ‘root’ choko first in water – choko is happy to sprout itself without any divine intervention! I left these in a dark room for several months.
Planting your choko
Firstly, you’ll need a choko. Either buy one in season from a local grocer or roadside grower, or smile nicely at a gardener who has already have them growing prolifically in their yard.
You’ll just need one. Chokos are prolific and easy to grow in home gardens. One plant can produce hundreds of choko come next autumn!
Don’t plant the seed straight away. Either do as I have and get the roots established in water, or put in a dark place until it sprouts on its own accord. When you are ready to plant (again, after the last frost of the season) bury the roots but leave the sprout exposed. It will climb like a maniac, so give it something to hold on to. My seedling shoot is already more than 1.5 feet tall (growing in water).
You may need to train the vine (or divert it from the neighbour’s garden unless they want a piece of the choko action) along a trellis, fence line or pergola.
Come summer it will start to flower and fruit will start to form, and by autumn you’ll be ready to harvest.
Once you have an established choko plant in your garden, after fruiting you can cut it back to around 4-5 short vines ready for next season. They are frost sensitive however so if living in a cooler part of New Zealand that is prone to frosts, try your luck with a frost-cloth or have a sprouting choko at the ready to plant-out as soon as the last of the frosts have gone.
Choko are also known around the world as chayote squash. Great in a stew or casserole, they are equally handy choko can be eaten boiled, stir fried, baked, steamed and pickled.
Wish me luck. I hope you are tempted to grow your own too!
Updated! Original post July 2017.
June 30, 2025
Maybe I am too late for a reply, we’re in SI West coast. Can you germinate from the fruit seed? Or are plants sold?
July 3, 2025
Hi Carol, yes definitely you can grow choko from a single choko fruit. Pick them when mature and….wait. From the seed pod within, a sprout will grow through the choko itself (I have some growing now on my kitchen bench). As the plants are frost sensitive, best to plant out when the last of the frosts have finished. On the West Coast you may still be able to grow it with frost-cloth protecting it in the sensitive late spring when the weather is a little dodgy! I have not personally seen them sold in plant centres but if you can get hold of a fruit, you are half way there! Happy sprouting! >>Julie
April 12, 2021
Hi , I gave my brother in Wellington 1 choco plant he let it on the window in his kitchen the plant grow so we’ll so he planted in his garden but the problem is looks so healthy but for 2 1/2 years no fruits please can you help.
Thank you .
April 12, 2021
Hi Kassie, hmmm. From what I have read, choko are normally quite easy to grow. This link may provide some assistance: https://www.yates.com.au/ask-an-expert/vegetables/pests/why-won-t-my-choko-vine-fruit/. I hope your brother gets some choko luck soon! >>Julie
August 4, 2019
Thanks julie
Ive just returned from vanuatu where i experienced wonderful choko salad and stirfry and also curry. So versatile these little gems.
I had been away around 9 weeks at=nd to my surprise the 2 choko sitting on the freezer in the kitchen had sprouted with shoots nearly a metre long!! Its heading to spring now so will pop them in a the garden nearer to sept.
thanks again
kim
August 4, 2019
Hi Kim, what a brilliant find after your (hopefully) relaxing break. Yum! Be sure to plant after the frosts. >>Julie
June 25, 2019
I’ve just purchased some choko off trademe
June 28, 2019
Nice one Ed!! >>Julie
May 7, 2019
I am interested in growing some CHOCKO. Does anyone know where I can get some seeds or a complete whole one if possible.
Thanks,
Beverly Teebon
May 7, 2019
Hi Beverly, as I mentioned earlier to Norman, I haven’t seen seeds for sale. I would recommend sweet-talking your neighbours in season or buy from fruit at your local road-side stall (rarely found in supermarkets). You may also wish to put a ‘call out’ on your local Facebook community page to chance your luck :).
April 10, 2019
WHERE CAN i OBTAIN PLANT/SEEDS IN NEW ZEALAND ?
Thanks
Norman
April 24, 2019
Hi Norman, I’ve only ever grown from seed (from the fruit I’ve been given). Sweet-talk your neighbours in season or buy from fruit at your local road-side stall – would be my suggestion. You may also wish to put a ‘call out’ on your local Facebook community page to chance your luck :). >>Julie
May 29, 2018
‘Pergola’ not ‘pagoda’ !
June 2, 2018
True!
May 13, 2018
Don’t be put off by the way your mother boiled them and served them mushy with butter and salt and pepper. Mature fruit have thick skin which must be peeled as it won’t soften during cooking, and the fruit is slippery when peeling it, AND the juice is astringent on your hands. There is a slightly prickly-skinned choko but I have only ever grown the smooth-skinned type. Mature fruit can be sliced thinly and stir-fried. Roast them halved alongside kumera, parsnip, and carrot, sprinkled with a little sugar and soy beforehand. Diced and curried or made into soups. They were often added to bulk up a soup/stew in times of hardship. Grate them raw into salads or make a choko salad of grated choko, lime juice, fresh sliced red chili. My easy curry is: choko, coconut cream, onion, Indian curry powder or Thai curry paste. I even do one using Kim Chi as the spice instead of curry powder. I always use vegan kim chi and curry pastes.
Now – to prevent the harvest of 1000s of chokos of full size, harvest them when they are no larger than a golf ball. They need no peeling and there is no seed formed inside, just halve or quarter them as you would a pear. I rarely let them grow full size as like everything, one gets sick of them eventually and I don’t like throwing away good food and other than Asians, few people readily accept gifts of chokos. So pick them when tiny! You will still miss some and they will appear out of the blue as full-sized making you wonder how you missed it.
To restrict the rampant growth habit of the vine pinch off the growing tips once it gets going. The growth tips are edible. I pinch the stalk just below the first set of young leaves. Harvest stems when they are fat as the thin ones are stringy. You have pinched the stem at the right place when it breaks easily. If it just bends then try further up towards the tip. Just wash them and stir-fry them with garlic, ginger, lemon, and sugar.
Lastly, I understand the root and the seed are also edible but haven’t tried these yet.
May 18, 2018
Wow Rose, you are a choko-connoisseur, how fabulous! Your curry sounds wonderful, I must give it a try. This is my first season growing choko myself, and after a dodgy start (must be planted after frost season) did really well out of the harvest. I’m about to post a delicious Choko Relish – watch this space. Thanks for sharing your tips, much appreciated. Who knew you could eat the growth tips too! >>Julie