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I chintal (chayote root) is used in making Zombie-Stay-Away Powder. The zombies are said to freeze in their tracks and cannot cross over a buried chayote root.

Although most people are familiar only with the fruit itself, the root, stem, seeds, and leaves are all edible. If you feed any part of a chayote (merliton) to a zombie the spell will be broken for nine days. The person will then resume a normal life, but at the end of nine days it will return to being a zombie or die.

The act of feeding of a chayote to a zombie to break the spell will only work once every seven years.

The chayote (Sechium edule), also known as sayote, tayota, choko, chocho, chow-chow, christophene, merliton, and vegetable pear, is an edible plant that belongs to the gourd family Cucurbitaceae, along with melons, cucumbers and squash. The plant has large leaves that form a canopy over the fruit. The vine is grown on the ground or more commonly on trellises.

Costa Rica is a major exporter of chayotes worldwide. Costa Rican chayotes can be purchased in the European Union, the United States and other places in the world. Chayote is a very important ingredient in the Central American diet.