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What Is This Mystery Root?

2008_09_08-MysteryFood.jpgWe saw this mysterious root-like item at the Alemany Farmer's Market recently. What is it?

 
 

It was being sold by an Asian farmer that didn't speak English very well, and it wasn't accompanied by a sign, so we don't know what it is. Readers, can any of you identify this?

(Image: Kathryn Hill)

Comments (10)

bett

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beetroot

is absolutely delicious!!!

posted by irinav on September 8th 2008 at 9:15am
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I believe it's jicama. Also delicious!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jicama

posted by bipolarbear on September 8th 2008 at 10:04am
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it's definitely not a beet

posted by fardaesm on September 8th 2008 at 10:32am
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It looks too small to be jicama. And the skin is usually a deeper brown. That said, though, I have NO idea what it is.

posted by Mace Elaine on September 8th 2008 at 10:49am
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Not beets. And too small to be jicama - these roots are only 2 inches long.

posted by Kathryn Hill on September 8th 2008 at 11:07am
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In Mandarin, it's called "Bigi". It's identical to a water chestnut in taste and texture (crunchy and juicy). Use it in any recipe that calls for water chestnuts; at its size, it's so much easier to peel and chop.

posted by practicallydone on September 8th 2008 at 11:25am
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It's baby jicama - even sweeter and lighter in texture than its grown-up counterpart. You can peel and eat like apples. An Asian farmer also sells it at the Galleria Farmers Market on Thursdays (when it's in season for a few weeks).

posted by logarhythm on September 8th 2008 at 8:06pm
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definitely a jicama

posted by Kim and Matt on September 9th 2008 at 12:50am
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I have also recently seen those at Alemany as smaller-than-grocery-store-size jicama.

posted by judith on September 9th 2008 at 12:32pm
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Hi. It's a turnip. I'm from the Philippines and here we call it "singkamas". We eat it as it is or sometimes use it to cook with other vegetables.

posted by fisheewishy on September 10th 2008 at 3:21am
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