jicama

A crisp, sweet turnip-shaped root vegetable (Pachyrhizus erosus) used raw in salads or cooked in stews.

In Mexico, a name applied to several edible roots, especially to that of the yam-bean, Cacara erosa, a leguminous plant with a sweetish, turnip-like root, which may be eaten either raw or cooked. This plant is now widely spread throughout the tropics.

The edible root of the yam bean, Pachyrhizus erosus, used in salads in Central America.