Jicama - That’s ‘Hee – cama’!!

Many of you are probably uttering, “what the heck is ‘Jicama’?” That’s exactly what I heard at our office Cinco de Mayo party last month when I presented a salad with this unfamiliar ingredient in it. To everyone’s surprise, they seemed to like it. The texture and crunch was compared to that of an apple, or pear or water chestnut. The taste is light and has a subtle sweetness to it.

The Jicama is a vegetable grown in Latin America or Mexico. It is the color of a potato and has the shape of a turnip. In fact, it’s often referred to as a ‘Mexican Potato’, a ‘Mexican Turnip’ or ‘Mexican Yam Bean’. You have to cut the skin off to eat it, which is sort of a pain. However, once you reveal the edible white vegetable inside, it’s very easy to chop up any way you like.

In addition to this vegetable being a delightful snack to munch on or add to some of your favorite recipes, it’s very healthy for you (as most vegetables are)! It has a ton of Vitamin C, low sodium and absolutely no fat. A one cup serving is only 45 calories. That’s an entire cup!! Yea!!

The recipe I used Jicama in was one I found on www.foodnetwork.com, courtesy of Ingrid Hoffman who hosts a show on the Food Network called Simply Delicioso. And boy was this salad ‘Delicioso’!! It’s a ‘Mango, Jicama and Radish Salad with Peanut Dressing’ and there wasn’t much more than that. The sweetness of the mango, the crunchy consistency of the Jicama and Radish along with their own flavors atop a bed of mixed greens and cilantro smothered in a sweet, peanuty-citrus Peanut Butter & Lime dressing was absolutely wonderful. Yes, I did say Peanut Butter. It was so good, you won’t want to stop eating it!!

You can find plenty of other recipes with this delightful ingredient in them on the Internet too. Try it! You just might like it!!

Here are a few sites I found that give great explanations about Jicama:

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-jicama.htm
www.foodreference.com/html/art-jicama-history-facts.html