Why are everyone's sweet potatos orange/redish but mine?

LER67

The sweet potatoes I buy at my local grocery store are more of a cream color, the yams right next to them have the reddish skin and the orange inside. Yet whenever I see someone post a picture of sweet potato fries or a sweet potato theirs look more like yams than the sweet potatoes that I buy.

Are people throwing the term sweet potato around loosely and calling yams sweet potatoes? Am I buying the wrong thing?

Carlos_421

What is a sweet potato if not a yam?

A russet potato with added sugars?

Alatariel75

I thought yams and sweet potatoes were the same thing and that the only other colour they come in was red/purple.

Dandelie

It is no different. Like potatoes, a sweet potato can have a different color flesh. There are bright blue and bright purple potatoes. There are yellow potatoes and stark white. It's the same for sweet potatoes. It is just a different variety.

Mapalicious

LER67 wrote: »

The sweet potatoes I buy at my local grocery store are more of a cream color, the yams right next to them have the reddish skin and the orange inside. Yet whenever I see someone post a picture of sweet potato fries or a sweet potato theirs look more like yams than the sweet potatoes that I buy.

Are people throwing the term sweet potato around loosely and calling yams sweet potatoes? Am I buying the wrong thing?

Most "yams" you see in the store are not real yams, at least in the US. They just call them yams...but they're orange-colored sweet potatoes.

TRUE yams are harder and starchier, and slightly pink on the inside. Most folks on this thread have probably never had a real yam. THE YAM IS A LIE!

Source of information: http://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-between-yams-and-sweet-potatoes-word-of-mouth-211176

Alatariel75

There you go, I googled and there are all number of colours. I only ever see orange and red.

pdxwine

huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/25/difference-between-sweet-potatoes-and-yams_n_1097840.html

CyberTone

There are many different varieties of sweet potatoes, with many different skin and flesh colors.


These are sweet potatoes...





This is the difference between true yams and sweet potatoes...







This is a side-by-side comparison of 100g of yams vs. sweet potatoes...

AmazonMayan

It's been awhile since I've seen a yam. We can get a couple varieties of sweet potatoes here. Some are orange and one is purple with white inside.

whmscll

CyberTone wrote: »

There are many different varieties of sweet potatoes, with many different skin and flesh colors.


These are sweet potatoes...





This is the difference between true yams and sweet potatoes...







This is a side-by-side comparison of 100g of yams vs. sweet potatoes...

Awesome!

LER67

Thanks everyone. Looks like I'm buying O'Henry sweet potatoes. I would also agree what Winco is calling yams are actually sweet potatoes.

williams969

Like others have already said, chances are your local supermarket only sells sweet potatoes of various variety, regardless of how they're labeled. I've only ever seen true yams at ethnic markets. Yams look like tree branches (the skin is very rough, like bark).

fishshark

Japanese sweet potatoes (purple outside white inside) are the best i have ever had. so good.

lemurcat12

Mapalicious wrote: »

LER67 wrote: »

The sweet potatoes I buy at my local grocery store are more of a cream color, the yams right next to them have the reddish skin and the orange inside. Yet whenever I see someone post a picture of sweet potato fries or a sweet potato theirs look more like yams than the sweet potatoes that I buy.

Are people throwing the term sweet potato around loosely and calling yams sweet potatoes? Am I buying the wrong thing?

Most "yams" you see in the store are not real yams, at least in the US. They just call them yams...but they're orange-colored sweet potatoes.

Correct, except depending on where you live the sweet potatoes sometimes called yams may or may not be called yams at all.

Where I live they are all called sweet potatoes. I think of "yams" as a southern term. (And real yams as something I am quite unlikely to see in a supermarket.)

Mapalicious

CyberTone wrote: »

There are many different varieties of sweet potatoes, with many different skin and flesh colors.


These are sweet potatoes...





This is the difference between true yams and sweet potatoes...







This is a side-by-side comparison of 100g of yams vs. sweet potatoes...

@CyberTone you're the awesomest! That's such a cool visual!

NaturalNancy

I love the Garnet Sweet potatoes, and they are also called Red Yams.

They are orange inside w the reddish brown skin... Wish I had some now.

Great potatoe pics!