Benefits Of Sayote

Sayote, also known as chayote and christophine, is a green, pear-shaped vegetable that is a member of the gourd family, which includes melons and squash. Widely cultivated throughout semitropical and tropical regions of the world, the vegetable is known scientifically as Sechium edule. Botanists may debate whether sayote is a fruit masquerading as a vegetable or vice versa, but most seem to agree that it’s a rich source of healthy nutrients, including vitamin C, folate and other antioxidants.

Low-Calorie Potato Alternative Characteristics and Culinary Uses

A staple of the Aztec diet long before the arrival of the Spanish in Mexico, the light green sayote continues to be a popular dietary choice among the indigenous peoples of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. Available in both smooth-skinned and prickly varieties, sayote’s flesh is crisp and comparable to the texture of a water chestnut. Sayote is high in starch content. Its culinary uses are limited only by the imagination of the chef. It’s a popular salad ingredient, often julienned with carrot and jicama to add a healthy crunch to salad greens. As a member of the squash family, sayote is most often cooked and served as a vegetable side dish. In “An A-Z Guide to Healing Foods,” author Elise Marie Collins recommends preparing stuffed sayote much as you would any other variety of stuffed squash.

First introduced to sayote during a 1970s trip to the highlands of Guatemala, Israeli agronomist Benny Gamliel became intrigued with the notion of promoting this member of the squash family as “the ultimate diet potato,” according to “Time” magazine. Gamliel noted that sayote has a taste and texture similar to that of potato, offers a similar feeling of fullness and has less than 25 percent of the calories – 23 calories per average sayote versus 106 in an average potato. More recently, the agronomist has been working to develop a hardier strain of sayote that could grow in more temperate climates.

Potent Antimicrobial Properties

A team of Argentine researchers conducted in-vitro tests of extracts of sayote in varying strengths to see how well they controlled gram-positive bacteria involved in causing illness in the hospital setting. Almost across the board, the sayote extracts showed strong antimicrobial potency when used against Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Streptococcus pyogenes, Streptococcus agalactiae and other bacteria that are ordinarily resistant to treatment. In an article that appeared in a 2003 issue of “Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease,” researchers said their findings warrant additional study to identify the active principle involved in sayote’s antimicrobial properties.

Rich in Amino Acids

Purdue University’s Center for New Crops & Plant Products notes that the fruit and seeds of the sayote plant contain high levels of numerous amino acids, including alanine, arginine, aspartic acid, cysteine, glutamic acid, glycine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, methionine, phenylalanine, proline, serine, tyrosine, threonine and valine. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein, essential to building new cells and repairing those that are damaged.

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