If you’re not familiar, it is a Central American (originally far as I can tell) tuber that is the only edible part of a vine(after you peel first, skin is toxic). It is a bounty of fiber, low calories, anti oxidants and vitamin c and one of the b vitamins and moisture. Its taste is supposed to be a lightly sweet cross between potato and either apple or pear and is so mild (my opinion here) that it’s almost offensive. It can be cooked or eaten raw.
So my question is this, I bought one(my second time with this vegetable) and peeled and ate some of it today and the sweet wasn’t there. The offensively mild potato flavor was, just no apple/pear. Should I have selected a smaller one, not waited a week before eating it? What happened to my jicama?
It’s generally used for texture rather than flavor. Slice it up and put it in a salad for an extra crunch.
The one recipe I know that uses it as the main ingredient:
Slice it up into french fry - sized pieces.
Put it in a bowl with lime juice and herbs (I think either basil or cilantro. Not certain. I’m not the cook in the family.)
Let it soak in the refrigerator overnight.
I have found jicama to be closer to potato than apple/pear. Nice crunch but pretty tasteless. Maybe you got lucky on your first one. I guess some of them might be sweeter than others, just the way some apples, cherries, peaches, etc., are sweeter than others.
Jicama pretty much falls into the “why bother?” basket of vegetables for me.
If I want crunch with flavor in a salad, I can use carrots, breakfast radishes, celery, diced peppers, shredded celeriac, sliced apples or pears, bacon, seeds and/or nuts. All have a whole lot more flavor and texture than jicama.
I’ll eat it if someone puts it on a salad, but IMHO, it’s nothing to bark about. I’ve never had one that was particularly sweet or tasty.
As ThelmaLou notes it is a cross where 89% is potato. The sweetness is barely perceptible and generally only a contrast between jicama and maybe a raw potato itself . Or air.
They have a nice crunch and can be marinated in a variety of things (chili and lime juice is a standard), but after multiple attempts I’ve kind of just shrugged and abandoned them. They’re aggressively bland and the textural note generally isn’t worth it from my POV.
The one time I had it, it was indistinguishable in both appearance and flavor from styrofoam. It was fine with enough dip on it, but then, that’s true of anything.
Oh, thanks for that. I’ve been meaning to try one, but waiting until they were less than $6 ea out here. I was imagining they’d taste similar to starfruit or lychee.
Well, dragonfruit t is a cactus fruit. Tasteless is pretty much the description of them. Prickly pear is popular in drinks here, but really only for the pretty color.
Prickly pears come in a variety of flavors – I’ve never noticed them being tasteless at all. I use xoconostles (which are quite tart and assertive) as a substitute for rhubarb in strawberry-rhubarb concoctions. Others have sweeter flavors, some strawberry-like, some tropical fruit, some are quite juicy, others are a bit on the drier side, etc.
Jicama, meanwhile, pretty bland, but fun for crunch. I don’t use it that much. I don’t really get the potato flavor from it; it kind of looks like a potato, and has the crunch of a firm apple, but the flavor is just … more like a water chestnut to me. And it essentially fulfills the same function as a water chestnut.
At least with its unassuming look, it doesn’t really inspire hopes of explosive flavor, unlike the dragonfruit, which appears to be a practical joke by nature. How can something so wild looking and so visually enticing just taste like absolutely nothing?
If you shop at Trader Joe’s regularly, they usually have cut-up jicama in a little tub in the produce aisle, near the other cut-up produce. I bought it a couple of times, and it’s kind of mild and crunchy. Good for snacking.
(For the same purpose, I’ve been on a kohlrabi kick lately. I’ll buy some, peel one at home and take them to work, to snack on after lunch.)
The whole fruits are both very large and will fill the entire room with their scent. It’s a bit like Juicy Fruit brand gum. Delicious, if a bit slimy to clean. I’m trying a recipe today for boiling the seeds.
I’ve had some taste variety in Jicama, and on occasion, yes, there was a faint sweetness. I have yet to find any visible way of determining ahead of purchase if it will be vaguely sweet, or just the normal blandness. I agree that as is, it doesn’t fulfill any role as a food that can’t be found in better options as a raw ingredient though.
My main use is in southwestern based soups, such as a tortilla soup, roasted red pepper and lime soup, or pozole. Since the flavor is coming from the soup, the mildness of the jicama is a non issue, and unlike a potato, it adds some good fiber without the risks of falling apart (I tend to make a large batch and have over several days, because otherwise it just isn’t worth the effort).
I bought a luridly maroon? red doesn’t really describe it, pricky pear fruit once. WOWEEE Man! Talk about sweet!
I like jicama for snacking while preparing dinner. Keeps me from over eating and is a decent health snack (ghod, anyone remember when rice coasteeeerrrs I mean patties were the thing?)
. Or air.