Has anyone grown or eaten jicama pods before? I saw them this afternoon at my local farmer’s market. It appears that they are eaten in at least some regions of the Philippines. Until today I had not even known that jicama was in the bean family!
The catch is that according to most sources I found, at the very least the seeds are known to be poisonous - they contain the toxic isoflavone rotenone in at least some amount. Is there a way to safely prepare and eat this vegetable or should I just stay well away?
All I can find about it is that the Pods are only eaten when they are young and become Toxic as they mature. Some sources say that the whole Plant is toxic except for the Root/Tuber.
With no personal experience I would let them be until I knew for sure how and when to eat them.
Rotenone is capable of crossing the blood brain barrier. Simple boiling is not likely to destroy it. In small amounts, it’s likely not toxic; but there’s no reason to eat these, despite lots of mention in traditional dishes. There are so many tropical beans which are safe: Long Bean (Vigna unguiculata sesquipedalis), Winged Bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus), to name a couple. Why take a risk?
