Definition of "jicama" []

• A crisp, sweet turnip-shaped root vegetable (Pachyrhizus erosus) used raw in salads and as crudités or cooked in stews. Also called Mexican turnip, yam bean. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "From November through early spring, jicama is a common street snack in Mexico, cut into sticks and served raw with lime juice and powdered chile."
• "Although jicama is grown in Texas, most of what is sold north of the border is imported from Mexico and South America."
• "The first thing that caught my eye was a neatly arranged pile of jicama, not because they are especially attractive (they're not) but because jicama is one of the signs that the seasons are changing and the produce that grew during the rainy season is being harvested for fall and winter."