Jicama is a bean-family vine from Mexico and Central America, grown for its crisp, juicy root, which is eaten raw in salads or sliced with lime and chili powder. Only the root is eaten: the seeds, mature pods, and leaves are poisonous. Nearly all jicama sold in US stores is grown in Mexico, and it's also called yam bean or Mexican turnip.
Appearance
- Growth form
- A vigorous twining vine that can climb 13–16 ft (4–5 m) with support, with a turnip-shaped root underground.
- Leaves
- Each leaf has three broad leaflets with toothed edges.
- Flowers
- Pea-like blue, purple, or white flowers in clusters, followed by hairy green pods that look like lima bean pods.
- Fruit
- Ribbed, hairy pods holding about 6–10 brown seeds.
Look-alikes
Yacón is an upright daisy-family plant up to 8 ft (2.5 m) tall with hairy, triangular leaves and small yellow-orange flower heads, and it forms several long storage roots. Jicama is a twining vine with three-part leaves, pea-like flowers, and a turnip-shaped root.
Why they get mixed upBoth roots are crisp and sweet, and yacón is even called jícama in Ecuador and Peru.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- farm fields
- tropical gardens
- Range
- Native to Mexico and Central America. The Spanish carried it to the Philippines in the 1600s, and from there it spread through China and Southeast Asia. It isn't a wild plant anywhere in the US.
- Preferred conditions
- Frost-tender. Good roots need a long, warm growing season with relatively short days, conditions found in the US perhaps only in south Florida. Trials in California produced lush vines and plenty of pods but tough, fibrous roots.
Growing it
- Care
- Removing flowers early is said to give bigger roots. Whole roots keep up to 4 months stored dry at about 55–59 °F (12.5–15 °C), but only about 3 weeks in the fridge.
- Propagation
- Grown from seed.
- Toxicity
- Mature seeds and pods contain , a natural insecticide and fish poison, and the flowers and leaves are toxic too. Peel the root before eating, since the skin also contains toxic compounds.
Name and classification
- About the name
- The word jícama comes from the Nahuatl name xīcamatl. In Ecuador and Peru, 'jícama' means yacón, an unrelated root crop in the daisy family.
- Varieties and forms
- Two kinds are grown in Mexico: jícama de agua, with a top-shaped root and clear juice, which is the market favorite, and jícama de leche, with a longer root and milky juice.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
Culture and stories
- Culture and stories
- Raw jicama is about 90% water and low in calories, with a good dose of vitamin C.
- In the Philippines it's called singkamas. In Singapore it goes raw into rojak, a fruit and vegetable salad, and cooked into popiah (fresh spring rolls).
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