Camote for sale at the municipal market in Tenancingo, Mexico State; copyright free image courtesy of "AlejandroLinaresGarcia" made available through Wikimedia Commons.

Camote, or sweet potato, presented raw, boiled and candied at the right, develops on a vine, Ipomoea batatas, of the Morning-glory Family, originally from Central and South America. It's been important to indigenous Americans for so long that several cultivars have arisen, colored orange, purple or white. Candied camote, visible in the picture's top, right corner, are chunks of sweet potato treated with piloncillo brown sugar and cinnamon, and are known in the mercado area as dulce de camote. Making it consists of putting camote chunks in a pan with enough water and cinnamon in the bottom to boil about 30 minutes; steam should soften the camote and melt the piloncillo, but shouldn't burn the bottom of the camote chunks. The famous camote poblano of Puebla is made of boiled sweet potato passed through a sieve, flavored and colored, sometimes decorated with pulverized sugar, and then packed into little boxes, in which they are sold.

Jícama for sale at the municipal market in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán; copyright free image courtesy of "LBM1948" made available through Wikimedia Commons.

Jícama, or yam bean, are names used for both the plants and the roots seen heaped at the right. They look like particularly large and all-white turnips, and sometimes are called nabos mexicanos, or "Mexican turnips, but jícamas and turnips aren't closely related. Jícamas belong to the Bean Family; they're Pachyrhizus erosus, native to Mexico, thus always have been important to indigenous Mexicans. They're tubers, and reach up to 30cm (a foot) in diameter and can weight up to 23kg (over 50 pounds). The name jícama derives from the náhuatl language spoken by the ancient Aztecs, the word xicamatl meaning "water root." It's true that jícama is rather bland, starchy and 90% water, but it provides calories to keep us going, and is a rich source of vitamin C. In Mexico usually it's eaten in raw chunks, but people know to season it with salt, lemon or lime juice, and chili powder or powdered sunflower seeds. Also slivers can be cooked in soups and stir-fried dishes, and often it's an ingredient in salads. Interestingly, though the tuber is completely safe to eat raw, the rest of the plant is poisonous. The seeds contain the toxin rotenone, used to poison insects and fish.

Yuca as seen in Mexican mercados; copyright free image courtesy of Leslie Seaton made available through Wikimedia Commons.

Yuca, or manioc orcassava, all are names used for the same plant, Manihot esculenta, of the Euphorbia or Spurge Family. The Spanish name yuca shouldn't be confused with the English name "yucca," which applies to a group of plants to which Joshua Trees of the US southwestern desert belong. "Tapioca" is another familiar English name used for ground yuca root. Yuca plants are native to South America, but are much cultivated in Mexico's humid tropical lowlands. The tuberous roots now are an important food in Mexico, especially in areas dominated by indigenous people. Boiled, they're a good bit like boiled potatoes. Mainly the tubers consist of carbohydrates, but also they provide protein, vitamins and minerals.

Ñame, pronounced "NYAH-me," sometimes appears in Mexican mercados, especially in areas of mostly indigenous people. In Mexico the name ñame, or sometimes ñame blanco, "white ñame," usually refers to tuber-producing members of the Yam Family, the Dioscoreaceae. (In the US the name yam often is applied to the unrelated sweet potato.) Ñame tubers look similar to the above yuca, though they're smaller and much firmer, almost woody. They have to be cooked hard before eaten.

Macal tubers sometimes turn up in indigenous areas of tropical, humid lowland Mexico. The chest-high, giant-leafed plant is Xanthosoma sagittifolium, of the Arum or Family, and very similar to ornamental Elephant Ears often seen in tropical gardens. At the right, that's a macal tuber freshly dug from the ground in the Yucatan. Macal tubers are so hard you have to cook them a good while before they become fairly similar to boiled potatoes. Also, they're toxic if not well cooked.