The chocolate vine is a vigorous zone 5a perennial vine that does well in full sun to part shade. It produces large edible fruit that will split open in late summer/early fall when ripe, revealing what has been described by people as a "seedy slug". As weird as it may appear the flavor is mild and tastes similar to tapioca. This will give you an idea as to how large the fruit actually is.....
There's also a Canadian system, which is a little different. When Canadian posters in particular don't specify then it may not be clear which one they are using.
As a lot of plants sold in Canada (through the larger stores or garden centers) originate from the US they usually come with USDA zoning information. And even those purchased from places like Canadian Tire and Ikea - of all places - are purchased through wholesale importers that bring in a lot of their stock from the US, and with them the tags with USDA information.
Very much so....but the secret is to have 2 varieties to produce fruit. I had several of the 'purple haze' plants for years and got no fruit until I added a 'silver bells', after that I get enough fruit each year to make several jars of akebia jam (I had to make my own recipe for this as I couldn't find any online).
