Jícama

Also Yam Bean, Mexican Yam Bean, Ahipa, Saa Got

The jícama (HEE-ka-mah) is the fleshy underground tuber of a leguminous plant (of which there are many similar species) that also produces pea pods on twining above-ground vines—hence some of its other common names. The vines, roots, beans, and mature pods are poisonous, but the immature pods are cooked up in many countries. Although Pachyrhizus erosus started out life in Mexico and Pachyrhizus tuberosus in the headwater region of the Amazon in South America, the two species can for culinary purposes be treated as the same (some botanists believe they may even be the same species, with a varietal difference). The plant was carried by the Spanish from its sources to the Philippines during the seventeenth century. It then became a favorite crop of Chinese gardeners, and spread through Asia and the Pacific.