My New Favorite ... Whatever It Is?????

If you have been reading my blog, you know I am trying to expand the "vegetables" in our diet.  If a vegetable didn't come from a can or the Salad Bar at Izzy's ... we probably didn't eat it.  Since the first of the year, we have added several new veggies (and recipes) to our diet.  My latest find is Jicama!!!  Who knew???

Jicama is a crispy, sweet, edible root that resembles a turnip in physical appearance, although the plants are not related. Jicama has been cultivated in South America for centuries, and the vegetable is quite popular in Mexican cuisine. Jicama has a unique flavor that lends itself well to salads, salsas, and vegetable platters. The roots can sometimes grow to be quite large, although when they exceed the size of two fists, they begin to convert the sugars that give jicama its sweet flavor into starches, making the root somewhat woody to the taste.

The Jicama has a very tough outer layer which was a little difficult to peel.  But inside was the sweet meat of the vegetable.  I thought it tasted a lot like a juicy Fiji apple.  I ended up shredding it and adding it to a bag of broccoli slaw and a can of Mandarin oranges.  I made it with a tart dressing and it came out like a sweet-tangy slaw.  We loved it.

The best thing about Jicama is that a cup of sliced Jicama has only 46 calories, no fats, no cholesterol, 5mg of sodium and 11g of carbohydrates (which is mostly dietary fiber).

Try it ... you might like it too!!