For me, the word snack is synonymous with crunch. I find snacks more satisfying if they have some snap to them. Needless to say I am a chip lover, but they are not the most nutritious food on the planet and can be rather fattening too.

Luckily, my love affair with chips is cooling now that I have found jicama [1]. It is a Spanish word; so pronounce the "j" with the sound of "h".

Native to the Americas and sometimes called the Mexican potato [2], and a mix between a potato and a pear. You can also compare it in texture to a water chestnut, and in fact jicama [3] is made up of almost 90 percent water. A cup of jicama has almost 6 grams of fiber [4] and only 50 calories. It is also high in vitamin C, potassium and folate.

Peel the coarse, papery skin and julienne the white flesh, into carrot stick size pieces, and squeeze some lime juice on it to keep it from browning. Add a pinch of chili to the lime juice and you have an excellent treat right there. It is also great in salad. I like to use jicama as a vehicle for salsa, and that is why I call it a chip substitute.

Source [5]