Confused with sweet potatoes and yams

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Grocery stores in Canada are confused too. I log the white ones as yams, and the orange ones as sweet potatoes. There is an entry for 'white yam (not sweet potato)' that seems to be somewhat accurate so I often use that one since I buy the white ones.

cgarcia4268 wrote: »

http://www.ncsweetpotatoes.com/sweet-potatoes-101/difference-between-yam-and-sweet-potato/

Hope this helps!

earlnabby wrote: »

Here is a great article describing the difference.

ncsweetpotatoes.com/sweet-potatoes-101/difference-between-yam-and-sweet-potato/

Jinx!!

Okay, I'm MORE confused now because these are contradictory!

Bahaha! My sister is a sweet potato junkie and we had this conversation a few weeks ago. I'm not sure why we (Americans) started calling SPs yams, but I'm pretty sure what you're eating is a SP!

OMG. A Google image search for "Yam" yields 99% pictures of...sweet potatoes, lol.

williams969 wrote: »

Look at the outside/skin. Sweet potatoes will have a smoother, edible skin (similar to potatoes, with "eyes"). Yams will be darker, bark like (and dark, like a tree almost) textured on the outside. If in doubt, cut it open. Yams have typically white or purple flesh; sweet potatoes will always be orange.

Two most common types in American markets:

The picture on the right is of a yam. You probably won't see these too often, probably just in specialty international markets. I regularly shop in a gourmet grocery store and have never seen yams there.

Sweet potatoes are not always orange. Some are white, some are yellow.

True yams are white on the inside with a rough bark-like peel. Other than the shape, they don't look that much alike, and the flavor and texture is very different from sweet potatoes. Yams and sweet potatoes are not even in the same plant family.

The "yams" and the sweet potatoes in your store are the same thing, just different varieties.


From the Library of Congress web site:

Why the confusion?
In the United States, firm varieties of sweet potatoes were produced before soft varieties. When soft varieties were first grown commercially, there was a need to differentiate between the two. African slaves had already been calling the ‘soft’ sweet potatoes ‘yams’ because they resembled the yams in Africa. Thus, ‘soft’ sweet potatoes were referred to as ‘yams’ to distinguish them from the ‘firm’ varieties.

Today the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires labels with the term ‘yam’ to be accompanied by the term ‘sweet potato.’ Unless you specifically search for yams, which are usually found in an international market, you are probably eating sweet potatoes!