Is the Potato a root vegetable?
JICAMA (Tuesday, May 5): Today is Cinco de Mayo, and today we’ve got something very Mexican. Have you met this stranger in the produce department? Jicama, a legume, is grown for the large tuberous roots, which can be eaten raw or cooked and are used as a source of starch. It’s also known as a “Yam Bean,” “Mexican Potato” or “Mexican Turnip.” The Jicama plant is a vine, which grows to a length of 20 feet or more. The roots are light brown in color, and may weigh up to 50 pounds. Most of those on the market will weigh between three to five pounds. A stranger in the produce section, this lumpy, dumpy blob of an odd-looking creature. It appears more like a dusty old stone. For those who still haven’t met the Jicama, it is a vegetable with a humble, if not downright homely appearance. For some reason, it doesn’t have it’s own identity. In fact, if the Jicama was a person, it would be in therapy every week. It is always compared to something else. It doesn’t even get much credit for its own
As we learned last week, there are many “root” vegetables that are really not roots. One such produce item is, yes, the lowly Potato. The Potato is actually an underground swollen tip of a stem used to store food and energy for plant growth through the “eyes.” It belongs to a group called “tubers,” which are not true root vegetables. This week’s YOUR PRODUCE MAN’S PRODUCE PUZZZZLE still deals with root vegetables: Is the Onion a root vegetable? See next week’s Fresh Tips for the answer.
