Yam or Sweet Potato?
I Yam What I Yam - Popeye
Is a sweet potato a yam? Grandma made a terrific yam dish every Thanksgiving and my friend Jill makes a beautiful holiday sweet potato dish. They sure do look and taste the same to me, so why is one dish called yam and the other sweet potato? Well, it turns out that yams and sweet potatoes are actually entirely different vegetables. They are grown from plants that are not at all botanically related based on the type of embryonic seed leaf they possess. Yams, called monocots because of their seed type, are native to Africa and Asia, related to lilies and are not the vegetable traditionally eaten at Thanksgiving. No matter what Grandma called her delicious dish, that sweet potato recipe (sweet potatoes are a dicot which is a morning glory relative) did not contain a single yam. It's not even related to the potato!
The USDA created truth in labeling rules for sweet potatoes and now require that the words “sweet potato” be on any package labeled only by custom, yams. According to the Library of Congress, this error of nomenclature on the part of those of us in North America stems from a change in the type of sweet potatoes grown here commercially. When a softer type of sweet potato was introduced to the public market, a new name for the vegetable was needed. The new vegetable looked rather different than the original sweet potato that Columbus reportedly brought with him to America and reminded African slaves of the yams they grew up with. For good or bad, the name yam took root in America and provided many a cook with a lot of confusion in the kitchen. No matter what that sign in the produce section or the label on the can says, most of what we in America call “yams” has never in this world been a true yam.
Deeply colored vegetables generally rock the nutritional charts, and both yams and sweet potatoes hold up to nutritional analysis very well.
Yams are a powerhouse in vitamin C that also serves up very high levels of potassium. Yams are often used in savory dishes. Their complex carbohydrates and fiber are great for those who want to control their weight. For a terrific in depth description of the nutritional aspects of yams, and some generally good advice on how to cook them, check out this page at The World’s Healthiest Foods.
Sweet potatoes, our Thanksgiving friend, are over the top in vitamin A, manganese, and beta carotene. Sweet potatoes are one of the many veggies that have super anti-inflammatory properties which makes them great for people like me that suffer from arthritis.
True Yam Recipes for those that love to try new things!:
For the Asian yam eaters among the members of Calorie Count, give this delicious sounding recipe from Khana Pakana a try.
I loved looking around the Congo Cookbook. It’s a great resource for anyone that wants to learn how to cook true yams in traditional recipes.
Sweet Potato Recipes that Sometimes Masquerade as Yam Recipes:
For those that don't want their sweet potatoes actually sweet, Buggy prepares her sweet potatoes in a savory way. Savory Yam Perogies are beautiful as a side dish or as an appetizer!
A Calorie Count recipe search led me to this recipe for Orange Glazed Sweet Potatoes. If you have not tried Calorie Count's recipe search bar, give it a try and see what pops up!
Maple Roasted Sweet Potatoes - what’s not to like about that phrase? Even the name makes you hungry and there's the bonus of a remarkably low calorie count!
Michael’s Kahlua Yams are even tastier than the marshmallow covered dish many use and the calorie count rocks!
Now remember, I am one of those Americans who did not know a yam from a sweet potato before writing this blog. I had to go looking around for true yam recipes and am still untried with their actual preparation, but I love new recipes and foods and cannot wait to make my first true yam dish. For Thanksgiving though, I’m baking my Maple Roasted Sweet Potatoes.
Because there are so many varieties of each (over 200 varieties of yams alone and they can grow to over 7 feet in length!), there is really no one stop method to tell them apart and you may have to rely in part on labeling and where you live.
The link to the government site has a good description, but the best place I've found with pics to show the varieties of each is here. When you see the pics you can get a better idea as to the difference...and the fact that there are so many different sizes, shapes, and colors.
Oh, one more thing, below is a photo of some yams. It's easy to see how the confusion got its start, they are similar in appearance. Yams can be quite huge though - the record owning yam weighed in at 154 pounds (70 kg)! Enjoy your sweet potatoes or yams...whichever you like best!
Your thoughts…..
Do you use the words sweet potatoes and yams interchangeably like I used to do? When you make sweet potatoes for your holiday table, do you look for ways to cut sugar and fat or do you just cook what your family is used to and try not to eat too much? What is your favorite way to prepare them now that you are an experienced calorie counter? Have you ever eaten a true yam? What did you think of it? If you are an experienced cooker of yams or if you have a great sweet potato recipe, will you please send the recipe here? Thanks!
Comments
| cheenakhadia - Nov 11, 2011 11:34 AM | New Comment |
one small correction, sweet potato did not come over from Europe to the America's with Columbus. It actually went the other way, they originated in South and Central America.
Just to add to the confusion, white sweet potatoes are now being sold in my produce department. I bet the nutrients are not the same.
Interesting article. Sweet potatoes have been a weekly dish during my 100 lb weight loss. My favorite recipe is to rub a little olive on them and cook in the oven on 350 for about an hour. Delicious, nutritious, and no butter required!
I knew they were different, but I wasn't sure how. In fact, my family thought there were no sweet potatoes on the market and they're all yams. Seems we had it backwards! It looks like the ones with pointy ends are indeed sweet potatoes. Thanks for the monocot/dicot lesson! I love botany, and I love sweet potatoes because they have so much color you know they have to be good (they fit nicely into my beige rule for quick food decisions).
I need to write it up more formally, but my FAVORITE sweet potato recipe aside from a simple long bake in the oven, then sliced open with a good finishing salt on top is my Sweet Potato "Fries" recipe. I figured out how to get sweet potato sticks in the oven to come up crispy. SOAK your thinly sliced sticks (about a half to 3/4" in width) in water for an hour, and change the water 2x. Some of the starches come out and from what I'm told, allow water to escape better in the oven. Dry them VERY thoroughly with paper towels (or a hair dryer) - if they're wet they will steam and be soft. Place on a pan and mist with olive oil, crack some black pepper and fresh salt on top, and place in a pre-heated 450 oven for about 35-50 minutes, checking on them every 10 or so for a toss and to let some steam out of the oven. They really do crisp up, and while they're unlike deep fried sweet potatoes, they do have a nice texture that's close enough- slather on some healthy ketchup (I like 'simply heinz') and you have a lo-cal great side dish or snack. Yummmm.
The only confusion I ever had concerning yams and sweet potatoes is why Americans called what I know to be sweet potatoes, yams, and apparently had no concept of what a yam really is! Now I know why! Growing up we always had an assortment of what we call 'ground provisions' available- yams, sweet potatoes, cassava, dasheen, eddoes- all delicious. Many people had them growing in their yards and all one had to do was go dig them up, clean, peel, cook and eat.... I love Trinidad!
I can pick a yam out from a mile away - one of the veggies I dislike (and there's not many). I love sweet potatoes though! Baked, mashed, made into fries, NEVER with marshmallows on top (Ewwwwww).
Use to drive me nuts when my store arbitrarily labeled them interchangeably.
That was very interesting. It's nice to finally have this straightened out. I am 72 years old and always thought they were one in the same. It just goes to show you - No matter what age you are - you never stop leaning.
Thank you
Very interesting...and those of us who have migrated the South know the difference...my daughter once said "yam" in front of her boyfriend's proper Southern grandfather, and was corrected very kindly and firmly --"only northerners say YAM!" ...now we use the term "yam dankee" all the time! 
Had an email for more clarification of the difference between the two:
because there are so many varieties of each (over 200 varieties of yams alone and they can grow to over 7 feet in length!), there is really no one stop method to tell them apart and you may have to rely in part on labeling and where you live.
The link to the government site has a good description, but the best place I've found with pics to show the varieties of each is here. When you see the pics you can get a better idea as to the difference...and the fact that there are so many different sizes, shapes, and colors.
Enjoy your sweet potatoes or yams...whichever you like best! (I'll add this to the post for anyone that has not yet read it.
i love sweet potatoes, they make a delicious lunch or dinner.... just pop it in the microwave (10 minutes) and add a tiny bit of butter... filling and delicious!
A great Thanksgiving side dish is easy Apple Ginger Sweet Potatoes. Bake about 3 medium sweet potatoes in a 325 degree oven until cooked (about an hour or sometimes more), and while you're doing that, reduce 4 cups of apple cider (the pure, unfiltered kind is best) to 1 cup. When the potatoes are done, scoop the flesh out into a dish, mix with the apple juice and 1/4 cup minced fresh ginger. (Butter, salt, and pepper can be added to taste.) Just heat to temperature and enjoy! This dish is delicious and spicy and perfect for a special occasion. It's also good with marshmallows melted on top, if you like that sort of thing. The marshmallows kind of reduce the nutritional value, though. ;-)
"I can pick a yam out from a mile away - one of the veggies I dislike (and there's not many). I love sweet potatoes though! Baked, mashed, made into fries, NEVER with marshmallows on top (Ewwwwww)."
I'm with you, I like my sweet potatoes baked or mashed and no cinnamon, marshmallows or other sweet stuff added. Just eat them natural and they will be a healthy choice for you. Don't forget to eat the skins too.
I just wanted to support ja975703: sweet potatoes did indeed originate in America and make their way over to Europe. That is why many South American dishes use sweet potatoes.
Love them, they are a super food!!! I make a to die for casserole for the holidays, with orange juice, eggs,spices,a little sugar, a little butter, and a crust of pecans, flour and sugar. It is probably not the best for dieting, but oh so good, my kids cannot get enough!!!
I am hooked on baking them, then scooping out the 'meat' to use in recipes, so easy and the skin fall right off if you don't like them. The roasted flavor impacts the simplist recipes with a wonderful flavor.
Also made a sweet potato cake in the summer with a brown sugar rum glaze that was oh so good. I have heard of sweet potato mashed potatoes(1/2 sweet potato and 1/2 white potato) and also making potatoe salad with them again, mixing white and sweet together.
Nothing is as simple as a baked potato with a little butter and cinnamon for a delicious meal or snack.
I spent a summer in Ghana last year and we ate yams quite often. I would describe a yam as much denser potato. As I don't like potatoes (I only like sweet potatoes! Weird, I know) I was not a big fan. They weren't bad as they were served because there was always a soup to eat them with, but they were best fried. A popular food made from yams is fufu. It is quite labor intensive, and is often made "pounded yam" -- dried, ground yam. I love to eat it with okra stew! Yams are sold in large markets, often selling only yams. They usually sell several different varieties of yam. Visiting a yam market was one of the most interesting and colorful things I did in Africa. Here is a picture I found online of a yam market in Jamestown, the slum in Accra (I like the kind of yam the woman in red is holding. I don't remember what they're called, but they're the best!)
I read this book called "The Poisonwood Bible" a few years ago, about a missionary family that moves to Africa, and they talked extensively about how the only crop that would grow was the yam. The picture posted by missskyful really shows what they were talking about.
So I usually get a bag of sweet potatoes when I go to Trader Joe's. They are small with red skin, and really orange inside. They look just like the picture above. They don't look anything like the big, rough, brown sweet potatoes my mom uses at thanksgiving. I also like the garnet yams that you see around. I think it gets even more confusing when they come in a can. If you are getting fresh ones they usually label them pretty well I think....?
They are such a great simple lunch entree or snack. Plus they keep almost forever in a cool dark place. I am going to go have one right now! :D
This is what we call Kumara (Koo-mah-rah) in New Zealand. They are not yams, they are a sweet-potato. The Traditional ones are yellow in flesh, quite dry even when cooked and have a deep purple skin on them. YUMMY roasted!! To us, Yams are the small red or yellow root tubers which have shiny skin, are about the size of your thumb (give or take, sometimes longer but the same size in diameter) and have a hard raw state.
Kumara - the traditional purple skin ones are low GI and very very yummy. I will often mash half a kumara in with Potato for a bit of a colour / flavour mix. They're also really nice 'baked' - I will also whip a small one into the microwave after pricking the skin and will have a dry baked one for lunch with a few other veges. They're a standard food item down here!
Kumaraho is a similar plant and has excellent healing properties. I always think it's funny to see our native plants being called different names. Like Swiss Chard is really just Silverbeet.
And the yams in the photo are actually more like Taro, a really fibrous, fatty, glutenous vegetable eaten in the Islands and is LOADED with carbs ...
The one in the photo at the top is what we call a Golden Kumara. If you want to learn more here is a link ...
I have a sweet potato for breakfast and one right before working out at the gym; I have been doing this for years! I love all kinds of yams and potatoes, but there is one I haven't seen mentioned here- this is from a "potato and yam" fan, THE OKINAWA PURPLE YAM!!!!
Okinawa purple yams are better than cake!!! They are white and rough looking on the outside and purple on the inside. I get those too, at a Korean market. SERIOUSLY unbeleavable!
Purple potatoes are awesome too. I like those with sugar free jam (!) and for a real treat, I have a sweet potato with peanut butter :D
This is a cool link with several different varieties of yams and sweet potatoes
http://www.foodsubs.com/Sweetpotatoes.html
This is a link to the Okinawa Yam!
opps....here it is...
Yep, another colour of kumara! I love them.
Hi family, I have eaten and prepared both - I had heard long ago that they also help with the hormone levels in our bodies if they are sweet potatoes. I have prepared yams which seem to be close to a white color here with black eyed peas in a general boiled luncheon. I cut the yams in quarters length wise and then into 1/2-3/4 inch pieces and add to the pot after starting the peas to boil. They cook quickly and are very flavorful with beet, carrot and onion pieces as a side dish, boiled with a little olive oil (about 1 TBSP per serving). Boiled yams or sweet potatoes are great with a sprinkle of cinnamon, and allspice and small amount of brown sugar slowly melted with vegetable margarine in a pan over medium flame. Also Baked with skins on, any type of oven until done, peel skin and slice in round slices for a snack or side dish to a meal.:) Thank you for the time hope this helps you. aea
Honestly, I just bake them now, either one, wrapped in foil. I add a little salt/pepper/butter when done. Its way less fattening than the baked with brown sugar and marshmallow crap mom made. :)
"Oh, one more thing, below is a photo of some yams. It's easy to see how the confusion got its start, they are similar in appearance. Yams can be quite huge though - the record owning yam weighed in at 154 pounds (70 kg)! Enjoy your sweet potatoes or yams...whichever you like best!"
I think the "photo of some yams", are really a phot of Cassavas or Manioc (in Brazil, where I live, we call them AIPIM or MANDIOCA).
See the photos below.
Yams (Inhame, in Brazil): http://www.receitas-faceis.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/in hame.2jpg.jpg
Sweet potato (Batata doce): http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TIje905kVlA/TOrAnRtLXbI/AAAAAAAABF 4/wgMmV7JcyMU/s1600/receita%2Bbatata%2Bdoce%2B2.jpg
Cassava or Manioc (Aipim, Mandioca or Macaxeira): http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2010/top10_dangerous _foods/cassava.jpg
HI ALL...
I WAS BORN AND RAISED IN LIMA, PERU AND GREW UP EATING SWEET POTATOES. Cebiche is not ever served without "camotes"...
A TERM OF ENDEARMENT IN MY COUNTRY IS TO CALL YOUR SWEETHEART A "CAMOTE FRITO"... (my fried sweet potato).
Also, when people fall hard for each other they are "encamotados" (sweet potatoed)!!!
May in Atlanta, Ga :-)
I have never EVER called a sweet potato a yam before. I have never even eaten a Yam because they are not sold in most grocery stores. I do eat Sweet potatoes though. Super delicious and I have always known they were sweet potatoes even if someone labeled it a Yam... you can usually tell by where they are grown.
I usually eat my sweet potatoes baked or mashed but never with sugar/marshmallows. That's an abomination! Sweet Potatoes are delicious all alone, but if you must add something to them try a small amount of butter (I use margarine/I can't believe it's not Butter) and a little cracked pepper.
My family is from the Philippines and one of the dishes I used to enjoy as a kid was halayang ube or purple yam jam, although it's hard for me to tell whether it was the expressions on my friend's faces when they saw me eating something . . . purple or the taste.
What you eat can have a direct effect on your skin if you're struggling with psoriasis. See what to shop for.
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