chayote

The 11 ingredients in the book — beans, calabaza, cassava, chayote, coconut, cornmeal, okra, plantains, rice, salted cod and scotch bonnet peppers — are all inherently Caribbean ingredients.

The beans — which have a nutty flavor and come in white, black and many colors in between — are also available through Native-led projects like Ramona Farms and on the menus of Native chefs around the country: James Beard Award-winning Indigenous chef Sean Sherman pairs Tepary beans with scallops, chayote, epazote and chile at Owamni, in Minneapolis; at Th_Prsrv, a restaurant just outside Houston that celebrates Indigenous Thai and Indigenous American cuisine, the beans feature in a thoughtful interpretation of the Three Sisters.

Patrons can order shrimp served with a creamy sauce made with vanilla extract, a chayote squash soup with vanilla seeds, a vanilla liqueur drink called Papenteco Kiss and plantains flambéed with vanilla ice cream.

For instance, the green, pear-shaped squash called güisquil — also known as chayote — is native to Mesoamerica and commonly boiled and used in soups or stews.

The more adventurous options feature salmon poised on black lentils seasoned with garam masala and chicken plied with chayote slaw and mole sauce sweetened with white grapes.