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The fruit cup of central Mexico. Cold jícama, cucumber, orange, and ripe Manila mango, dressed with lime, salt, and chile piquín until every bite is sweet, sour, salty, and hot in the same mouthful.
This is the fruit cup of central Mexico. Ciudad de México, Estado de México, Puebla, Tlaxcala. Sold from glass-walled carritos on every busy corner, where the vendor stabs spears of jícama and mango into a cup, douses them in lime, and asks one question: ¿con chile? You say yes. You always say yes.
The ingredient that defines this version is chile piquín. Not Tajín, although Tajín comes from this same idea and is now sold in every supermarket from Tijuana to Toronto. Chile piquín is the small wild chile that grows in the brush of central and northern Mexico, ground into a bright red-orange powder that hits harder than the commercial blends. The vendors on the street use chile piquín because they grew up with it. Their mothers used chile piquín. Their abuelas used chile piquín. Tajín is the convenient cousin. Piquín is the original.
The rule of this dish is balance. Sweet from the mango and the orange. Cool from the jícama and cucumber. Sour from the lime, which has to be Mexican lime if you can find it, the small green ones, not the big Persian limes that taste like watered-down perfume. Salt to pull everything forward. Then the chile, generous, the way it is on the street, because timid chile is an insult to the dish.
My mother used to cut a jícama into spears in the afternoon when the heat in Colonia Roma was at its worst, and we would eat them standing at the kitchen counter, dipped in lime and chile, before dinner. She would tell us not to fill up. We always filled up. Saber cocinar es saber vivir, and sometimes la cena es una jícama con chile.
Jícama (Pachyrhizus erosus) is native to Mexico and Central America and was cultivated by the Mexica long before the Spanish arrived, eaten raw with salt and chile in essentially the same way it is eaten today. The Nahuatl name 'xicama' gave the modern Spanish word, and 16th-century chroniclers including Bernardino de Sahagún documented its sale in the Tlatelolco market dressed with chile and lime. The modern fruit cup format, served in clear cups from glass-walled street carts, emerged in Mexico City in the early 20th century as urban vendors combined the older pre-Columbian habit of eating raw vegetables with chile and salt with the post-Columbian abundance of citrus and tropical fruits introduced through the Manila Galleon trade and Spanish colonial agriculture.
Quantity
1 medium (about 1 1/2 pounds)
peeled and cut into thick batons or half-moons
Quantity
1
partially peeled in stripes and cut into thick half-moons
Quantity
2
peeled and cut into thick spears
Quantity
3
peeled and segmented, or cut into thick rounds
Quantity
1/2 small
peeled, cored, and cut into thick spears
Quantity
1 medium
rind removed and cut into thick batons
Quantity
1/2 cup (about 5 Mexican limes)
Quantity
2 teaspoons
Quantity
2 tablespoons, plus more for the table
Quantity
1 tablespoon
for the children and the timid
Quantity
for serving
Quantity
for serving
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| jícamapeeled and cut into thick batons or half-moons | 1 medium (about 1 1/2 pounds) |
| English cucumberpartially peeled in stripes and cut into thick half-moons | 1 |
| ripe but firm mangoes (Manila or Ataulfo)peeled and cut into thick spears | 2 |
| navel orangespeeled and segmented, or cut into thick rounds | 3 |
| pineapple (optional)peeled, cored, and cut into thick spears | 1/2 small |
| watermelon wedge (optional)rind removed and cut into thick batons | 1 medium |
| fresh lime juice | 1/2 cup (about 5 Mexican limes) |
| fine sea salt or kosher salt | 2 teaspoons |
| chile piquín en polvo | 2 tablespoons, plus more for the table |
| Tajín clásico (optional)for the children and the timid | 1 tablespoon |
| Mexican lime wedges (optional) | for serving |
| chamoy (optional) | for serving |
| salsa Valentina or salsa Búfalo (optional) | for serving |
Pick a jícama that feels heavy for its size, with smooth, taut skin and no soft spots. A light jícama is a dry jícama and a dry jícama is not worth peeling. The skin is thick and fibrous. Cut off the top and bottom, stand it on a cutting board, and slice the skin away in strips with a sharp knife. Do not try to peel it with a vegetable peeler. The skin is too tough for that. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado which jícamas came in fresh that week.
This is a fruit cup, not a salad. The pieces should be thick enough to hold by hand, the size of a fat finger. Cut the jícama into batons or thick half-moons. The cucumber gets the same treatment, half-peeled in stripes so you keep some of the green for color and bite. The mango goes into thick spears. The orange into rounds or segments. Uniform thick cuts. If you dice everything small you have made a different dish entirely.
Manila or Ataulfo mango is the right mango. The yellow ones, small, with the thin flat seed. They are sweeter, less fibrous, and they taste like mango should. The big red-and-green mangoes from the supermarket are watery and stringy and they will not give you the sweet against the chile that the dish needs. If the Manila is not in season, use a ripe but firm Tommy Atkins and accept the compromise.
Pile the jícama, cucumber, mango, and orange into a wide bowl or onto a deep platter. If you are using pineapple or watermelon, add them now. Keep the pieces loose. Do not toss yet. The dressing goes on at the last possible moment so the cucumber stays crisp and the mango holds its shape.
Pour the lime juice over the fruit. Sprinkle the salt evenly. Now the chile piquín. Two tablespoons sounds like a lot. It is not. The fruit absorbs the heat and the sweetness pushes back against it. That is the whole point. La cocina no es decoración, es trabajo. Toss gently with clean hands so every piece is touched by the lime and dusted with the chile. Taste one piece of jícama. It should taste sweet, sour, salty, and hot, all at once.
Mound the dressed fruit in tall clear cups or wide clay bowls for the table. Stick the spears upright so they can be eaten by hand, the way they are sold from the carritos on the corner. Set extra chile piquín, lime wedges, salt, chamoy, and a bottle of Valentina alongside. Every person finishes their own cup at the table. Así se hace y punto.
1 serving (about 325g)
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