Jicama: Snacking, Salads, and more!

Jicama is one of my favorite snacks. I discovered jicama when I took a four week vegetarian cooking course from my college dietician. A jicama salad was one of the dishes we made, I'll post the recipe for that later this week!

Fun facts/benefits of jicama:

• Jicama is a root vegetable often found in Mexico, Central America, and South Asia. 
•  I often joke that jicama tastes like "water and fiber" because it has a crisp refreshing flavor and definitely a high fiber content. 
• How high is that fiber content?! 6 grams of fiber in one cup!
• Great snack for keeping blood sugars in range. I see very little to no affect on my blood sugars from snacking on jicama. There are 12 grams of carbs in a cub, but with 6 grams of fiber, the net effect on blood sugar is 6 carbs per cup.
• High alkaline food
• Anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory  
• Keeps you full with all that fiber and very low in calories!

Storing and Preparing Jicama:

•  Choose the smoothest jicama you can find with no blemishes or dark spots. Jicama is in season fall, winter, and spring.
  
• Store jicama unpeeled at room temperature. Mine usually last up to a week unpeeled in my fruit bowl. Some say they can last longer. 
• Once peeled and chopped store in the refrigerator, it will spoil/turn brown if left out. 
•  I store my jicama in rubbermaids, you can add water, olive oil and/or lemon to help keep it fresh. I occasionally do this.  
• Do not eat the skin. Peel it off or chop it off (This is easier for me). Then chop into desired sizes. I chop into long sticks or small cubes.  

1. This side of my jicama is smooth and blemish free. 
2. This side is not as pretty. A little damage to the white meaty part underneath may need to be cut off as well. My grocery store never has perfect jicama. As close as you can find!
3. I cut off the skin and rinsed it off with water. 
4. Chopped into small pieces and ready for snacking or throwing into a salad. A second jicama standing by, as I plan to finish the first by the end of the week!
   
Eating it:

• Raw nothing on it! 
• Olive oil and lemon
• Lemon and Tajin (yummy chili pepper seasoning)
• Throw it in a salad
• Dip it! Hummus, guacamole, or anything you fancy!
• Some ideas I have yet to try: Boil/mash as substitute for mashed potatoes, roast it, add to stir fry or to soup! I'm looking forward to testing a few of these out in the near future!

On more than one occasion the cashier at the grocery store has asked me "what do you do with this?" while holding up my jicama with a puzzled expression. The most simple response: "Just cut it up and eat it!"