I get a text from my wife at work yesterday: “You got a package from Jamaica”. How exciting! A package from Jamaica, I wonder what it could be? So I spent the rest of the day pondering the package’s contents based on its tropical origins.

I got home and I sprinted (total lie) to the box only to see the sticker on the top that said: “Jicama”. That’s not Jamaica! It is however a delicious root vegetable from a plant of the same name that is grown mostly in Mexico. They are going to be selling them at Giant Eagle now which is how I ended up with one. I can’t wait till they start sending me steaks to review.

If you’re unfamiliar with Jicama, it looks a lot like a potato, although they are generally much larger and less starchy. The flesh is crisp and juicy like an apple with a nice crunch when you bite into it.

Being on a low carb diet, I thought I’d try to make a dish with the jicama that could be carb friendly. Maybe too remind me of the good old days when I could eat potatoes. I settled on jicama hash browns, while they do have some carbs, the levels are no where near that of a potato. They are easy to make and quite delicious.

Jicama Hash Browns Recipe

1/2 Jicama
2 T Butter
Salt
Pepper

1. Peel the Jicama – The skin on a Jicama is thick and it’s needs to come off before you can work with it. Using a vegetable peeler or a knife, peel the jicama.

2. Grate the Jicama – Using a box grater, shred the jicama into hash brown size. I used the biggest holes on my grater. Please be careful of your fingers.

3. Brown the Jicama – Melt the butter in a pan on medium heat, then place the jicama in the pan in an even layer. After 5 minutes, check to see if the jicama on the bottom is browned, if so, flip all of the jicama. If not, give it another minute and check again. Once you’ve got everything browned nicely, go ahead and take it off the heat and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

I really like these jicama hash browns, they maintain a nice sweetness and a little crispsness that potato hash browns just don’t offer. They make for an excellent change of pace to any breakfast routine. Also, jicama is loaded with Vitamin C and Potassium, with about half the carbs of a potato.