Latino produce - what is it all?

Supermarkets now carry increasing numbers of vegetables from Latin America and the Caribbean. But how should you use them?

Achiote or annatto - a hard, terracotta-colored seed used powdered for its slightly acid, musty flavor.
Boniato - a white sweet potato best peeled, with a mealy texture.
Calabaza - similar to pumpkin, with a dense, sweet flesh. Don't eat the peel.
Chayote, mirliton or vegetable pear - a creased-looking shiny green squash with little flavor. Don't eat the peel.
Jicama - a large round tuber with a papery brown skin that must be peeled, with a crisp white interior. A sweet, nutty flavor, not unlike water chestnut, for which it is a useful substitute. Also good shaved like Parmesan with a potato peeler and tossed into salads.
Taro, malanga or yautia - a root high in starch with light to dark purple flesh that turns gray and gluey when cooked. Unpeeled, thinly-sliced and deep fried, they make pretty purple-flecked chips.
Tamarind - a bean-like pod with a sour-sharp-sweet flavored sticky paste interior also widely used in Indian and Asian curries. Don't use the pod.
Yucca, cassava or manioc - a potato-sized root with tough brown skin that needs peeling, with a white interior. Used to make flour and starches and a grainy, polenta-type meal, as well as a tapioca.