Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Spicy Jicama Sticks; The Perfect Mindless Munchie Snack



Have you ever tried jicama? I had heard of it, but never tried it until a client told me that it was their new obsession. I love teaching people about new foods, but it's fun to every once in a while be introduced to something new by a client!

In case you were wondering what jicama looks like....




And to give you an idea of the size, here is a picture of it in my hand.


If you're wondering how the heck to pick out a good jicama, and how to store it, check out this link.

The great thing about jicama is that it's pretty low in carbohydrates, and it's loaded with fiber. After doing some research on jicama, I learned that the majority of its fiber is soluble (yeah!), but sadly for me, the specific type of soluble fiber is inulin (otherwise known as a short-chain of fructose linked together...also called fructans). Inulin is also considered a prebiotic, which means it can serve as food for good bacteria in the gut. The reason it's bad news for me is because I malabsorb things like inulin. Fructans (like inulin) are an oligosaccharide, and they are supposed to be avoided or limited on the low FODMAPs diet (the "O" stands for oligosaccharides). So, when I eat my jicama I try to stick to a small serving.


So now let's imagine it's 3pm and you're at home on your day off. You're not hungry, but you want to much on something crunchy (it's that 3pm craving for salty crunch that is hitting you hard!). What do you do? Make these:


Mexican Jicama Snacks
(Makes enough for about 5 large mindless munchie occasions)

Ingredients

1 large jicama

2 limes, juiced

1 T red pepper flakes

1/8 tsp. sea salt



Directions

Peel the jicama, and rinse it off under cold water.
Cut into fry-sized sticks.
Combine in a medium bowl with juice, pepper flakes, and salt
Toss to coat.
Serve/eat as finger food!

(Ignore the tacky purple nail polish that is flaking off my thumb nail. My mom will be so angry if she sees that....)

Delicious!



Estaimted Nutrition Facts
(Serving Size: 1/5th of the batch)


Check out all that fiber! So, the total carbohydrates is 22 grams. You can take half of the grams of fiber (which is 6) and subtract that from 22 (which makes 16) and this is your "net carbs" (if you are a carbohydrate counter). So this is a salty and crunchy snack with less than 100 calories, only 16 carbohydrates, LOTS of fiber, a good source of vitamin A (and almost iron...), and an excellent source of vitamin C.


QUESTION: Have you ever tried jicama?? What about any other new finds that you'd like to share?

12 comments :

  1. Oh yum. I really want to do this. It also looks like these would stay good in the crisper for awhile. I'm always looking for produce like that so I don't have to think about grocery shopping all the time.

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  2. Yes, I've had jicama, and I really like it; it adds such a nice crunch to salads. But for some reason, I hardly ever buy it! I'll have to change that! This sounds like the perfect, crunchy snack!

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  3. I wouldn't have guessed you'd eat that funky looking vegetable raw. I feel like I've had jicama before, but cooked. Maybe not though! Sounds like a good snack.

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  4. omg LOVE jicama!!!! thanks for reminding me that i need to buy and play with one this weekend hahaha these look great! i might make some cinnamon sugar ones mmm and i wonder what would happen if you baked them!

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  5. These sound great---and they're pretty too :-)
    I've made jicama fries and they were really good! (skinny fries were best)
    I saw a recipe for "apple crisp" that used jicama too, and that looked interesting. I can see how it would be the same texture as apples, but I'm not sure how the taste would be!

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  6. Love jicama! there is a Mexican restaurant that we go to that has an appetizer called lucumbres (sp?) and it has jicama and other veggies in a wonderful spicy lime juice.

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  7. First of all I love how you said your mom would be mad about your nailpolish- my mom is the same way. Eric was laughing at me because doing my toenails was on my to do list before Florida this year and he's like really- that is a top priority? I'm like trust me, my mom will kill me if they aren't at least presentable! haha

    Anyway, I've never heard of or tried jicama but soluble fiber is good for my tummy so I will DEFINITELY be checking these out. I just have to figure out where to find them...

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  8. What a genius idea!!! How did you come up with this?? I have only had it once on a salad...i liked it,nice and crisp mellow flavor. I bet it just absorbed the lime juice creating a great flavor. GOOD IDEA!!!!

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  9. i've tried to like jicama, but the texture just gets me every time...sort of the whole waterchestnuts and beets category. ;) ps. i am writing up a post about wheatgrass...thanks for the question!

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  10. I've never heard of this! Thanks for posting it, I'll try and find some near me!

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  11. I've never tried jicama before...but am always in need of a good for me snack food!

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  12. Thanks! we sell jicama at Ingles Markets so I posted this to our Ingles FB page.

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