the.com/jicama
a vine that hides dessert underground and poison overhead.
means A round, brown-skinned root vegetable native to Mexico whose crisp white flesh tastes mild and sweet, eaten raw or cooked.
from From American Spanish jícama, borrowed from Nahuatl xicamatl, the Aztec name for the plant. Spanish colonizers carried both the tuber and its word outward, which is why it now turns up on tables far from Mexico. (The essence isn't joking, by the way: only the root is food — the vine's mature pods and seeds carry the toxin rotenone.)
- toxic relatives
- its seeds and leaves contain rotenone, an insecticide
- water heavy
- about 90 percent water under that rugged skin
- bean kin
- actually a legume, related to peas and beans
- stays crisp
- won't brown or soften like cut apples do
- name origin
- from Nahuatl xicamatl, an Aztec word
jicama root vegetable mexico — pachyrhizus erosus, native to mexico, now grown commercially in asia producing millions of tons annually
jicama in asian cuisine — popular in thailand, philippines, and indonesia as a crispy vegetable in stir-fries and salads since 20th century adoption