Chow-Chow: Gourd first brought by Welsh missionaries to the colonial Mizo Hills is an all-purpose crop

A large misshapen green pear with rough skin that tastes bland, somewhat like a cucumber. These are the usual remarks one is likely to hear from someone seeing or eating chow-chow for the first time. The reason is simple: the vegetable is not easily available in markets despite being grown in various parts of the country for more than a century.

Chow-chow belongs to the gourd family, Cucurbitaceae, which is ubiquitous in India. It is, however, among the few gourds that have not originated in India.

Botanists trace its centre of origin (the area where the plant was first domesticated) to Mexico, based on the evidence that the Central American region is home to the maximum number of wild relatives of chow-chow (Sechium edule)—S compositum, S hintonii and S tacaco. They say that from here, chow-chow, also known as chayote, must have travelled to other tropical and subtropical regions in the world.

The plant arrived in India in the late 1800s with Welsh missionaries, who brought the gourd to Mizoram. Since then, chow-chow has expanded its territory along the Himalayas and has acquired different names—it is known as iskut in Mizoram, piskot in Meghalaya and lonku in Himachal Pradesh.

The vine is now also cultivated in the peninsular region of India, especially in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka, where it is referred to as maerakkai and Bangalore vankaya or Bangalore brinjal.

The vine resembles that of other members of the gourd family, and almost every part of the plant, from fruits to tender shoots to young heart-shaped leaves and even roots, can be consumed.

The fruits and tender leaves are usually available from June to December. The tuberous roots, which can be used as a replacement for potatoes, are available after the vines dry up between January and March.

As the fruits, tender shoots and tubers are available for almost 10 months of a year, they have become an important part of cuisines in the northeast, particularly Mizoram. The vegetable is also popular in southern India. In Tamil Nadu, it is used in everyday cooking, in dishes like sambar, kootu, poriyal and thuvayal.

The vine also has several other uses. A study published in Veterinary World in July 2015 in Mizoram shows that a meal prepared from mature fruits and leaves can safely replace the standard grower ration for pigs without causing any adverse effects on their growth or nutrient utilisation. The fibres extracted from the vine’s mature, woody stems are used to prepare ropes, baskets and hats.

Several research papers have also identified therapeutic properties of chow-chow. A review article published in Frontiers in Plant Science in September 2021 states that chow-chow fruits are rich in vitamin C, vitamin E and folate along with minerals such as potassium, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium, and possess anti-cardiovascular, antidiabetic, antiobesity, antiulcer, and anticancer properties.

Being an excellent source of minerals, dietary fibers, protein, vitamins, carotenoids, polysaccharides, phenolic, flavonoid compounds and other nutrients, chow-chow is in demand in pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries. Being a low-calorie vegetable, it is also a good choice for baby food and hospital diets.

Yet, few farmers grow the crop on a commercial level, primarily due to shortage of good quality planting material. Unlike other plants in the gourd family, which have multiple seeds, chow-chow has a single seed, and not much work has been done on developing its commercial varieties.

It’s time to realise the full potential of chow-chow which, as seen in Mizoram, can be a lucrative choice for farmers. Before the 1980s, the vine was planted in the state only on marginal land with poor soil.

After researchers observed that the vine can grow well in harsh agro-ecological conditions, the government promoted the crop among those practising jhum or shifting cultivation.

In Sihphir village of Aizawl district, the government supported the farmers to cultivate and market chow-chow in an organised manner by setting up Iskut Growers Association and by providing them subsidies in the form of price support in the 1990s.

Today, farmers in Mizoram not only supply the vegetable to various parts of India but also export it to neighbouring countries like Bangladesh. In 2018, the state’s horticulture department applied for a Geographical Indication or GI tag for Mizo chow-chow, but the application was rejected as the petitioners failed to provide data on use and uniqueness.

Veerendra Kumar Verma, head of horticulture at the ICAR (The Indian Council of Agricultural Research) Research Complex for North Eastern Hill (NEH) region, says that chow-chow is highly productive, sturdy and easy to maintain, and hence it is extremely popular in the Northeast, where almost every house has a plant or two.

Research by the institute has found more than 70 landraces in the northeastern region, which show a wide variation in fruit colour, fruit size and composition including the content of vitamin C, total sugar and phenol.

The institute’s regional centre located in Mizoram has identified four heat-tolerant genotypes of chow-chow, which can help expand commercial cultivation of the crop in warmer climates and non-traditional areas.

This was first published in the 16-31 March, 2023 print edition of Down To Earth

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