Jicama: Diabetic Friendly Vegetable

What's jicama? What does it taste like, and how do you eat jicama? Find the answers as you read about this diabetic-friendly vegetable.

How to Eat Jicama

Jicama is a plump, root vegetable with a light brown skin. Crisp, sweet, and white, like a water chestnut or Jerusalem artichoke, this tuber has many culinary uses. You can steam, roast, bake, broil, mash, or fry jicama, and you can eat jicama raw. Raw sticks or chips of jicama make great diabetic-friendly dippers, and cubed jicama is great in a fruit salad or in a stir-fry.

What's Great about Jicama

Jicama is diabetic-friendly. It's low in starch, low in calories, low in sodium, and has no fat. Jicama is also high in fiber and vitamin C. The taste is a bit peppery. In stir fries, jicama takes seasonings well and blends nicely with other vegetables.

A member of the legume or bean family, this tuber is very popular in Mexico and Asia. It looks like a fat turnip or a white radish. Jicama can substitute for either water chestnuts in Asian dishes or potatoes in American cuisine. When substituting jicama for roasted, mashed, or stew-pot potatoes, you'll find jicama to be a bit more crisp than potatoes.

How to Prepare Jicama

To eat jicama, peel the light brown skin with a vegetable peeler. You don't want to eat any of the skin or the flesh right under the skin; both are fibrous and inedible. Cut the jicama in half. With cut side down, you can cut thin sheets or sticks to use for dips with salsa or guacamole. You don't need to worry about jicama oxidizing like an apple, pear, or Jerusalem artichoke. That's why it's great on a raw vegetable platter. You can also grate jicama for salads and drizzle lemon or lime juice over it.

Where to Buy Jicama

You can find jicama in most large grocery stores year-round. Buy jicama when it's firm and the skin is unblemished, and buy it with the root attached. If you don't want to buy jicama without tasting it, you can ask the produce manager for a taste. If you do decide you like the taste of jicama, take one home and store it for up to 2 weeks wrapped in plastic in the refrigerator.

Growing Jicama

Here is an interesting fact about jicama. It can grow over 12 feet tall. You probably don't want this vegetable growing in your main vegetable garden.

Jicama is a versatile vegetable, and because of its low starch content, jicama is a diabetic-friendly vegetable. If you're a diabetic searching for a substitute for potatoes or another great vegetable for dips, jicama is a tuber you'll want to get to know.