At any rate, the mix up continues to cause confusions - even recipes in reputable cookbooks will call for yams when what they really mean are sweet potatoes. The yam tuber has brown or black scaly skin which resembles the bark of a tree and off-white, purple or red flesh, depending on the variety. Subscribe to our HealthyFamilies BC newsletter where you will receive up-to-date information on healthy living. It has also become a staple on the Thanksgiving table, most often as sweet potato casserole with marshmallows. D. alata, called "white yam", winged yam, water yam, and purple yam (not to be confused with the Okinawan purple "yam", which is a sweet potato), was first cultivated in Southeast Asia. Read our privacy policy to learn more. The famed "purple yam" of Okinawa is also a sweet potato and not a true yam. Yams have a slightly bitter taste as compared to sweet potatoes. Yams are imported into the USA and Canada … And in New Zealand, the oca is called a yam. Differences Between Yam and Sweet Potato Taste. (Or "yam," wrong as that may be. These are the ones that we often refer to as “yams”. They have a pretty, thin orange skin, and bright orange flesh that screams "sweet potato." You will find sweet potatoes pre-peeled and cooked and sold in cans or frozen. Sweet potatoes have smooth, thin skin that is easy to peel while yams have rougher, scalier skin (like tree bark) that’s difficult to peel. The Monsanto-trained scientist fronting the project has been proclaimed an African heroine and the saviour of millions, based on her claims about the GM sweet potato doubling output in Kenya. Sweet potatoes belong to the genus Ipomoea. Here's how to tell them apart and cook them properly. The true yam is the tuber of a tropical vine (Dioscorea batatas) and is not even distantly related to the sweet potato. Although yams and sweet potatoes are both angiosperms (flowering plants), they are not related botanically. The flesh also varies depending on … Receive tips, tools and guidelines so you can learn how to fit physical activity into your daily life. October 25, 2012 by Andrea Godfreyson, Registered Dietitian. Receive information about lifestyle supports including those around alcohol and tobacco. In this video, I will show the difference between a yam and a sweet potato. Sweet Potato vs Yam. So in conclusion, all those sweet potato-y type root veggies that you once thought were yams… are not. Actual sweet potatoes have short, smooth skinned roots with tapered ends whereas actual yams are long and cylindrical with rough, scaly skins. Sweet potatoes have smooth, thin skin that is easy to peel while yams have rougher, scalier skin (like tree bark) that’s difficult to peel. Want to increase your food skills? Receive information, tips and tools to learn how to choose and enjoy nutritious foods. Regular sweet potatoes are creamy, like a Yukon Gold potato. Potato vs Yam . Getting Older and Staying Physically Active, Staying Connected to Community as You Age, Normand Richard, Certified Exercise Physiologist. For this reason, throughout the American South, the term is commonly applied to sweet potatoes. Unlike the sweetpotato, yams must be cooked to be safely eaten. COPYRIGHT 2012, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED healthyfamiliesbc@gov.bc.ca. White potatoes and yams fall into the category of root vegetables. Technically, both sweet potatoes and yams come from flowering plants… but they are actually not botanically related! Sweet potatoes come in several different colours, but the most common ones in our grocery stores have yellowish skin and light yellow flesh, or a darker orangey brown skin and bright orange flesh. Just like their name, sweet potatoes are sweet and sweeter than yams. Interestingly, the confusion is not limited to the Americas. Click on the topic(s) in the list below that interest you. Paler skinned sweetpotatoes have white flesh which is not as sweet and moist as the darker-skinned, orange-fleshed sweetpotatoes. Apr 4, 2014 - Explore James Callahan's board "Yams VS Sweet Potatoes" on Pinterest. Yams are a monocot (a plant having one embryonic seed leaf) and from the Dioscoreaceae or Yam family. Yam. View this post on Instagram. They have a higher sugar content than sweetpotatoes and can grow to be enormous! Although they are both root vegetables, they belong to two different plant families—the sweet potato is from the morning glory family while the yam is related to the lily. Let's make sense of it with science. Yams and sweet potatoes have differences in both appearance, taste and origin. They’re both nutritious, giving us energy and fibre. In Spanish, they are referred to as batata, boniato, and ñame. However, a true yam is a starchy, edible tuber, generally with a drier taste than a sweet potato. They are thought to have originated in Central or South America and are popular in the American South and available across the globe. The characteristics of sweet potatoes and yams are also different. Depending on the variety, sweetpotato flesh can vary from white to orange and even purple. To view this site properly, enable cookies in your browser. Its only a sweet potato, a member if the morning glory family.there ARE YELLOW sweet potato s, but theyre still sweet potato! From the African words njam, nyami or djambi, meaning "to eat," comes the English word "yam." Nutrients of White Potatoes Vs. Yams. Yams and sweet potatoes have differences in both appearance, taste and origin. A staple in African cuisine, yams are most often boiled, roasted or fried. Yams are rough, scaly, difficult to peel and very low in beta-carotene. Their long shelf life of 6 months allows them to be a dependable food source during times of poor farming—the yam is a much more difficult crop to harvest than the sweet potato. Getting started or staying active? Unlike that of the sweet potato, the skin of the yam is rough, hiding a white, starchy interior. Enslaved Africans in the Americas began calling the indigenous sweet potato "yam" because it reminded them of the food staple they knew in Africa. Check out our Facebook page and tell us your favourite way to eat them. Alton Brown discusses the difference between sweet potatoes and yams with a nutritional anthropologist, covering their history and varietal differences and even storage methods. Here’s the deal: if you’re shopping at general grocers in B.C., you’re probably buying sweet potatoes, not yams. It's a popular vegetable in Latin American and Caribbean markets, with over 150 varieties available worldwide, and slowly becoming more common in the United States. Sweet potatoes are high in beta carotene while yams have more potassium. True yams often have dark brown skin and white, purple or red flesh. These are simply plants that have edible portions underground. Firm sweet potatoes have golden skin and pale flesh and are most commonly labeled as sweet potatoes. They’re mostly sweet potatoes over here. I learned a lesson about sweet potatoes once while teaching a cooking class in Northern BC. Purple yams are found in Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines and are often used in desserts. Receive information you can trust from pregnancy and the early years. As your child grows you will have questions along the way. Shrug.) These vegetables both provide key nutrients, but one is a root and the other is a tuber. The paler-skinned sweet potato has a thin, light yellow skin and pale yellow flesh. Sweet potatoes originated in North America, first joining market shelves alongside the white potato as far back as the late 1600s. Although not grown in the same quantities as the African yams, it has the largest distribution worldwide of any cultivated yam, being grown in Asia, the Pacific islands, Africa, and the West Indies. Something to note about yams is their ability to grow to massive proportions; we're talking over 100 pounds, and that could be just one yam! There are distinct differences between a yam vs. a sweet potato. Sweet potatoes and yams are both tuber vegetables, but they're actually quite different. Whatever you call them, sweet potatoes are delicious. Most yams have a drier, potato-like starchiness than most sweet potatoes, which tend to have a rich flavor and, in some cases, creamy texture. Sweet potatoes labeled as yams are usually very moist and soft after cooking. The fact that yams and sweet potatoes are mislabeled on cans and in recipes can cause a lot of confusion.