Robin: If you are not familiar with jicama—a root vegetable that is often eaten like a fruit—you are totally missing out. Jicama (occasionally called yam bean) may be the tastiest, most healthful ingredient that you are not using—yet.
I first encountered jicama while as a high school exchange student in the northern Mexican state of Sonora in 1980. I had never heard of this root vegetable before, so when it was included (along with spears of fresh pineapple, mango, and cucumber) in the finger-food snack I would sometimes buy from a little fruit cart right outside the school gate, I wasn’t sure what it could be. It was delicious, though, and super refreshing in the oppressive afternoon heat.
Later in my life, as I began to interact with people from other Latin American countries, I was surprised to discover that they were unfamiliar with this wonderful ingredient. Little known outside of its native Mexico and some Asian countries, jícama (pronounced HEE-cah-mah; the j has an h sound) has become more common in U.S. supermarkets over the last couple of decades. You may not find it in your local mom-and-pop grocery yet, especially if you live in an area without a sizeable Hispanic population, but you will encounter it (even if only seasonally) in larger chain supermarkets and in little local Mexican groceries. If you come across a decent jicama for sale, do not pass it up!
Jicama´s Texture and Flavor
Under its thin, fibrous, skin, jicama looks like a cross between a raw potato and an apple. White and moist, it is satisfyingly crunchy when bitten into. The flavor is quite mild, slightly sweet. (Some have described the texture/flavor as that of a “savory apple.”)
Jicama´s fresh, mild-mannered flavor profile makes it as well-suited for use in fruit salads as it is in raw vegetable concoctions. Its firm, crisp texture allows it to be successfully prepared by chopping, shredding, and thin-slicing with a mandolin.
How is Jicama Used?
Jicama is unique in that it is a root vegetable that is consumed raw most of the time. Crisp and fresh-tasting, the white flesh is most often cut into cubes, slices, or sticks and eaten as a snack, usually sprinkled with salt, freshly-squeezed lime juice and ground chile pepper. It is equally delicious diced and used in fruit salads, or shredded to make vegetable salads.
Jicama can also be cooked, with the advantage over other veggies that it retains its crispness when cooked. For that reason, jicama is often used by cooks in Mexico when preparing Chinese dishes; the jicama´s mild-flavored crispness substitutes for water chestnuts, which are hard to come by in that country.
————–> Scroll down for recipes using jicama.
Wait—a Mexican ingredient in Asian cuisine?
Jicama is native to Mexico and Central America and was cultivated by many indigenous peoples before the arrival of the Spanish. Its name in Nahuatl (language of the ancient Aztecs and of some indigenous groups to this day) is xicamatl, meaning “watery root.”
After the Conquest of Mexico, the Spanish took the jicama plant to their colony in the Philippines, where it caught on. From there, the popularity of this tuber spread over much of Asia, and it used today, raw and cooked, in such cuisines as Chinese, Malaysian, and Indonesian food.
How to Buy and Store Jicama
Jicamas look somewhat turnip-like and have a papery, grayish brown skin. Choose one that is heavy for its size and has an unwrinkled skin with no soft spots, which could indicate that it’s past its prime.
When you get home, place your jicama in a cool, dry place, where—as long as it is kept dry—it should keep for a week or three. Once cut, though, the jicama flesh needs to be stored tightly covered and refrigerated; it will stay good for a few days as long as it is kept moist (not wet).
How to Peel Jicama
This is a hard and heavy root vegetable with a thin, though fibrous, layer of skin, so you will need a large, sharp knife. You might be tempted to try to peel your jicama with a vegetable peeler, but I have found that to be much more work than it is worth, and I always go back to the knife.
Place your jicama inside the sink so that you can have more control over this awkwardly-shaped root. Very carefully use the large, sharp knife to cut the skin off the jicama. Discard the skin, rinse the jicama, and you are ready to slice, chop or shred it into pieces of the size and shape desired.
The Jicama Plant
Pachyrhizus erosus, a plant in the bean family, is a vine that can grow as long as 18 feet (6 meters). Once the plant has developed, small blue or white flowers and long seed pods will appear. The jicama plant is frost tender and needs about 9 months of frost-free cultivation to produced market-sized root tubers.
In contrast to the jicama root’s mild-mannered character, the stems, leaves, and seeds of this plant are considered poisonous. In fact, the seeds contain rotenone, a naturally occurring insecticide and piscicide (fish killer), and ground jicama seeds have been used for this purpose.
The edible part of the jicama plant grows underground, where it can reach a weight of dozens of pounds, though the commercially sold ones usually range in the 4-5 pound range (2-2.5 kilos) and rarely go beyond 10 pounds. “Mini” jicama roots, small enough to fit in a child’s hand, are sometimes sold in Mexico in December, to be used as part of the traditional filling for Christmastime piñatas.
What Can I Make with Jicama?
- Serve jicama as part of a raw vegetable tray. Cut it into sticks and arrange it on the tray with carrot and celery sticks and strips of raw bell pepper. Eat it plain, sprinkled with salt and lime, or with your favorite vegetable dip.
- Make a pico de gallo fruit salad (not to be confused with the piquant salsa that also bears that name) by combining it with 2 or 3 firm fruits such as fresh pineapple, papaya, mango, watermelon, or cantaloupe. Chop the jicama and the fruit into similarly-sized chunks or spears. Sprinkle with salt and/or ground chile, if desired, and squeeze a lime over everything. (Alternately, use with a prepared mixture such as Tajín seasoning.) Eat with fingers or a fork.
- Cut your jicama into ¼-inch slices. Use them as an equally crunchy yet more refreshing and lower-carb alternative to toast or crackers as a base for canapés.
- Include chopped jicama in your vegetable mix for a stir-fry.
- Use diced jicama to add texture and fiber to a casserole.
- Recipe: Creamy Jicama and Carrot Slaw
- Recipe: Mexican Christmas Eve Salad
- Recipe: Morelian Gazpacho (mixed fruit salad with a delicious surprise kick)
- Recipe: Spicy Cornbread Stuffing with Chorizo and Jicama
*Complete photo information for photo of jicama prepared lime and chile: (c) Nikchick/Flickr, Creative Commons 2.0 license, no modifications made
Latest update: 10 June 2024
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