Hi melikeeatplants,
It goes by a number of names and one is the Chayote (Sechium edule)and it can be cooked like a squash or cut up raw and used in salads if desired.Brady

Another example of this fruit was pictured on the forum about a month ago. We purchased one at the grocery store and after a week it sprouted, much like a potato would.

Okay I've heard of that. It's growing over a wall between the animal shelter I volunteer at and a scrap yard of all places. Any keys to ripeness? Do you guys like the taste?

They're usually called choko in my part of the world.
I'd only eat them if I was pretty desperate. Ever tried a marrow (mature zucchini)? Chokos are like an even blander version of that. Not very tasty at all.
Productive though. The usual law applies that if it's really productive, it's generally not particularly good!
Animals will eat them, so will compost heaps.
In Australia, the rampant vines are usually used to grow over an especially ugly shed.

Then it is no surprise it appears next to a scrapyard.

It is said they are better when smallish, much like cucumbers.
So there is no real ripeness factor.

Pick small if you intend to use them raw. The plants come in male and female forms. There is a superstition in parts of Mexico that you must plant 3 plants to get fruit. The plants will reportedly climb telephone poles and wires.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chayote wiki

I've only once happened across the spiny one for sale at an Asian or Latin American grocery store.

Here is a link that might be useful: spiny mirliton

Um, guys, sorry, but I don't believe this is a Chayote at all.

The pod bears a superficial resemblance. The foliage is COMPLETELY wrong.

Chayote leaves are pretty typical of things in the squash/cucumber family, and actually look a LOT like cucumber or melon (Cucumis melo) foliage.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chayote Images online

I'm with the naysayers; I have chayote on my farm and in two of my tropical gardens; and this is definitely NOT Chayote, or Guisquil, as we call it in Guatemala

It looks like it isn't Chayote with the leaf formation and the way the fruit is growing with the larger end near the stem,as Chayote has the smaller end attached to the stem.I hope melikeeatplants is still with us.Brady

Did you plant this thing?
Almost looks like some kind of gourd. I am a 5th generation Northern Californian (now in Guatemala); and I have never seen this plant.

Could their be two vines mixed together.
The fruit looks like the Chayote in the produce market.
The smaller leaves are Japanese Honeysuckle.

I'm with Jolj, two vines, except the other maybe is euonymus fortuneii, late season.

Still kicking Brady, I did eat a piece the size of table grape when I thought it was a chayote, tasted bland and decided not to use it for anything.

Those are the leaves of the fruiting plant, you can put your hand on them and follow them to the fruit.

Here is a picture of one open. Multiple seeds so that confirms no chayote correct?

{{gwi:125981}}

I'm very glad about that melikeeatplants.I was going to ask for more pics.The one end on a Chayote reminds me of an old lady's mouth who doesn't have any teeth.This doesn't appear to have that feature.It'd be interesting to find out what it really is.Oh well,Happy Thanksgiving.Brady

I forgot to mention when I pulled it off the vine a milky sap came out, like what happens when you pinch a newly forming fig off.

Happy Thanksgiving to you as well....

Hopefully we'll find out what this is.

maybe Milkweed Vine, Morrenia odorata one of the Asclepius' which is why it has milky sap. I think the fruit you cut open isn't fully mature and eventually the seeds get little parasols like a dandelion seed. They blow away on the wind that way. Should not be edible as far as i know.

I believe trianglejohn has it right,Milkweed Vine.Here is a video.Brady

Here is a link that might be useful: Milkweed Vine

Wonder what it tastes like.

Melike...
Cool looking seeds almost melon like. Thanks for sharing the pics. Surprises are fun.

Bradyb- Great video! Spanish/Aztec ethnobotany anyone?
Kind of like Euell Gibbons approach. Thanks. We're richer now.

I've always enjoyed the scent of the flowers- sweet with jasmine notes. Paul

BradyBB, great video. Our teacher says the leaves are grey-green and slightly fuzzy, which doesn't seem exactly like those pictured. Wonder if it might be another milkweed relative, maybe one in this genus? The fruit of this species looks quite similar. See at the bottom of the page.

Here is a link that might be useful: Araujia sericifera

Yes, that Eat the Weeds guy is very informative and fun to watch.
It could be related to that carolync1,but it tells of the seeds being black but in melikeeatplants photo they look yellowish.
I never knew this many plants had similar appearing fruit.Brady

this is Araujia sericifera, called Mothplant or Cruel Plant in New Zealand.
I accidently ate it while pregnant and got very ill, I had a vicious rash all over my body and was sick. I do hope it didn't do anything to the baby. I saw it at the local grocer shop as Chayote (we call it Choko) but it was Mothplant. It grows heaps in my garden.
Do not eat, it's really awful. It looks like Chayote but Chayote is lighter green and heavier in weight and has a solid core. Be really careful, I felt sick for 3 days and thought it's the pregnancy, but it was this poisonous plant i had