What's a jicama?

2 Jicamas

One day these were sitting on my bench when I came home. 
I thought it was some kind of potato or root vegetable.
One of the girls had picked them up in the market for me to try. 

I had to do some research on them once I knew their name.
The plant is a climbing legume and this is it's tuberous root.
It is a very popular food in Mexico and from what I read can
be eaten fresh like a carrot and is evidently great with dips.

I still felt a bit freaked out about eating a "potato" raw, so looked
on the internet and saw that you can make chips out of it.
So I had a go at that.  Their skin is weird as once you've put
a knick in it with a knife, it just peels off.  They weren't
particularly easy to cut into chip shapes. Here's my attempt...

 

I was more happy about my chip presentation than the actual

texture of the chips.  They seemed a bit undercooked. 

I tried oven baking them and it took forever. 

They seem full of water so I'm starting to understand

why the Mexicans prefer them raw.

Ok I'll be brave next time and try that out! 

 

Reference material:  Awake, 22 October 2005