Jicama, Fruit Salad, and Trying New Foods



We recently embarked on a mission to find the mysterious and unique root vegetable known as jicama. Our adventure led to many insights including, how to get a kid excited about trying a new vegetable, the wonders of all that is jicama, and a killer fruit salad that you will be making all summer- we promise! First let's start with getting your kids enthusiastic about trying new foods. For some of us this feels daunting! There are many ways to encourage your kids to be more adventurous but today we'll just mention one. Books! We've talked about it before, books are such an fun way to get kids excited. In fact this jicama adventure we recently went on was inspired purely by this book.

In My Foodie ABC, Little Gourmet's Guide by Puck illustrations by Violet Lemay, there is a fun new food or foodie term for each letter along with a description and adorable pictures. 'J' is for jicama, by the way. Our little kitchen helper (2 1/2 years old) was waiting to find a jicama for weeks and weeks. When we found some at our local farm, he was so excited!

Jicama in its natural state.

Curiosity sets in for this tiny tot.

Best way to 'peel' is with a knife as the skin is too tough for a peeler.

Salad ready to go! 'Jenga' anyone?

Jicama is a unique root vegetable that's eaten raw, so we created a delicious salad around it. But let's face it, jicama is hard to find. So we recommend making this salad without the jicama if you can't find it. Trust us, it'll be something you keep making again and again. Simple real ingredients to keep your family healthy.

Jicama, skin cut off, julienned (optional)
Granny smith apples, julienned
Watermelon, julienned
Manchego cheese (or sharp white cheddar or feta), julienned
2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice (to taste)

Cut and prepare equal parts of all ingredients in the same shape, mix with lemon or lime juice and enjoy!