What is this vegetable called in the United States?

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Replies

  • 777Gemma888
    777Gemma888 Posts: 9,578 Member
    edited September 2019
    Kumara is a Garnet yam in the US. The US variety is also two to three times longer and wider.
  • jonason62
    jonason62 Posts: 14 Member
    That vegetable is an oca,, oxalis tuberosa
  • corinasue1143
    corinasue1143 Posts: 7,467 Member
    kimny72 wrote: »
    My understanding is an American yam has rough skin like tree bark, isn't particularly sweet and is very starchy, and looks something like this:

    tvgtvgqie5np.jpg

    The story I was told is that African slaves who were accustomed to eating a lot of (actual) yams, used sweet potatoes instead out of necessity here and just ended up calling them yams, and that's how it slipped into usage. Whether or not that's true, I have no idea!

    That looks like the only yam I have ever eaten. In old Mexico. Cut and baked like scalloped potatoes, but with a pineapple sauce, served as a vegetable. The yam wasn’t very sweet, but the pineapple made the dish naturally sweet. Tasted like no sugar added. The yams were still very individual, it didn’t get mushy like a potato or sweet potato would have.
  • mmnv79
    mmnv79 Posts: 538 Member
    In NZ, this is a yam, but when I search for yam recipes I get a lot of responses from American sites for what I would call a kumara (or sweet potato). So can anyone please tell me what this is known as where you're from?

    2ojoatprdmb3.png

    I'm not in the US, but in the UK. We call them Peruvian Potato or Oca, although there aren't very popular here.
  • Huffdogg
    Huffdogg Posts: 1,934 Member
    edited September 2019
    edited when i realized what I said had already been said.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,846 Member
    It has those little root buds that are not at all like a potato. Wiki says it's a tuber, though. On wiki there is a nutrient breakdown (calories etc.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxalis_tuberosa

    My Oxalis triangularis tubers look like that, only much much smaller https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxalis_triangularis

    Oxalis_triangularis6.jpg
  • geraldaltman
    geraldaltman Posts: 1,739 Member
    Oh, Come On. You're disagreeing that I buy white sweet potatoes and that they're different????????

    Look up "white sweet potatoes." They're very sweet. I buy them every week.


    https://www.sheknows.com/food-and-recipes/articles/1103597/sweet-potato-vs-yam/

    :lol: and even though there are white and orange, apparently according to this article they're BOTH sweet potatoes. I guess I've never seen a yam, then.

    The more you know.

    gcj9nbdeyi4f8lfykz1l.jpeg?resize=695,391

    The one time I cooked with sweet potato, I thought I had screwed up my purchase. When I started cutting them (very hard to do raw) I saw they were white instead of orange as I expected, but tasted just like sweet potato when cooked, which I found out took a very long time to do.
  • Buttons61
    Buttons61 Posts: 1,636 Member
    I am in Alabama. Most of our sweet potatoes are a deep orange. I have not seen a real yam which I knew was one that was whitish yellow since I was a little girl in Ohio. From my region, that is how we know them. Different areas are different. But after 29 years in the Deep South we take our sweet taters serious! LOL! Especially in pie!! :#
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,950 Member
    LyndaBSS wrote: »

    I think it's a cross between a yam, a carrot and a sharp pei. 😞

    You win the thread.
  • Love_2_Hike
    Love_2_Hike Posts: 103 Member
    its an Oca (Oxalis tuberosa), I cant grow them where I live.
    Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), are very easy to grow and the leaves are edible too. There are white ones, purple ones and orange are most common.
    Yam (Dioscoreaceae), are common in Africa, they are larger in size, up to 5kg each
  • girlwithcurls2
    girlwithcurls2 Posts: 2,257 Member
    I think I've been lied to all this time... I thought we had both in Oregon, but after reading the other responses around the US, I highly doubt it. I'm going to have a good look next time I'm shopping.
  • Safari_Gal_
    Safari_Gal_ Posts: 1,461 Member
    edited September 2019
    We have been bamboozled by most grocery stores.. most of the orange flesh veggies are sweet potatoes - not yams.

    There are actually quite a few white fleshed sweet potatoes too/ there just are less known the the typical orange fleshed variety.

    Our mom and pop shop on the corner sells African Yams and Asian Yams/ ill have to update with a photo- they usually have a bark like texture to the skin.

    Tho I’m no yam expert - just along for the veggie ride here. :)

    The bottom photo - all sweet potatoes- no yams.

    spsj4bhkcqw9.jpeg
    shs1td0tp4vu.jpeg