Yesterday, as I was munching on my barbeque-flavored potato-based snack discs, it occurred to me that I could probably make much tastier and more satisfying snacks, using real food -- rather than air, potato starch, and who knows what else!

Last time I was at the store, I snagged a little jicama ... root? bulb? Well, you know -- that round thing that, underneath its tough skin, has the texture of an unripe pear, and is a little starchy and sweet at the same time.

You see, I was waxing nostalgic about this fantastic taqueria I used to frequent back in Northern Virginia. In addition to delicious greasy, yet light tortilla chips, their baskets also contained sticks of jicama, sprinkled with cayenne.

I thought this would be a perfect high fiber, high water content, low calorie snack! But why stop with just cayenne pepper? I raided my spice cabinet and dug out a few contenders:

Penzey's cajun spice (in the recycled lemon pepper container), Morton Hot Salt, wasabi furikake, and Cholula chile-lime seasoning.

The result: I wasn't crazy about the Hot Salt -- too smoky. The chile-lime was pretty tasty. The cajun spice was my favorite by far, and I was totally surprised at how well the furikake fared. If you aren't familiar with it, it is a Japanese rice seasoning, that typically contains dried and shredded nori seaweed, sesame seeds, and other flavoring agents. If you like sushi, you'll probably like it!

TIP: Don't pre-season, like I did! I thought I was being so cleaver by dividing them into four bunches, seasoning them, and storing them in sandwiches bags -- ready to throw in my lunchbox. Bad idea. The result is less crisp jicama, and a pool of flavored water in the bottom of the bag. In retrospect, this makes total sense, since the salt in many of these seasonings will draw out the water from the jicama. So season on an as-needed basis.

Happy snacking!