What is the difference between yams and sweet potatoes? Are they the same, yet by a different name?
Many years ago orange colored sweet potatoes were introduced to the Southern
United States. In an effort to distinguish these from the traditional white-fleshed
potato, producers called them yams, which is the Anglicize African word,
nyami. Today, most of the starchy tubers consumed in the US and labeled
as yams are in reality sweet potatoes. Yet yams and sweet potatoes
are not the same; in fact, they are quite different from each
other.
As far as
botanical order is concerned, they are at opposite ends. The sweet potato is a
dicot, set in the morning glory family. The sweet potato, whose sweet and moist
flesh varies in color from white to yellow and orange, is native to South
America; the skin is typically smooth. Garnet, Jewel, and Beauregard are
orange fleshed sweet potatoes that often masquerade as yams in the local
supermarkets.
Yams, on the other hand, are a monocot, closely related to grasses. In contrast, yams are dry and starchy and rather bland. While yellow or purple in color, the skin is rough and a bit shaggy. Yams are native to North Africa and Asia. They range in size from that of a small potato up to 150 lbs. Yams are a primary agricultural crop in West Africa, where 95 percent of the world's yam crop is grown. Incidentally, both yams and sweet potatoes can be purple.
