Southern Yams Vs Sweet Potatoes

Most American supermarkets are selling you sweet potatoes not yams. For detailed breakdown on the differences check this article on yams vs.

Sweet Potato Vs Yam Debate Zoebakes Eat Dessert First

The short answer is no you cant always substitute yams for sweet potatoes.

Southern yams vs sweet potatoes. At that time yam was already Southern slang for sweet potato as slaves who had come from West Africa compared them to the yams they had. Depending on the variety sweetpotato flesh can vary from white to orange and even purple. Even though both are starchy tubers sweet potatoes and yams are not the same species or even in the same family.

Sweet potatoes are used so whether you hear Southern candid yams or candied sweet potatoes referenced theyre the same dish. So sweet potatoes family Convolvulaceae are completely unrelated to yams. Despite the recipe name there are no yams in the dish.

Ships transporting enslaved Africans to America were provisioned with true yams Dioscorea a large hairy root of tropical origins. Sweet potatoes generally have an orange flesh and a maroon or copper skin. Actually the vegetables most ancient ancestors came from South America.

There are a few key differences between sweet potatoes and yams. Raw sweet potatoes are about 20 percent carbohydrates three percent fiber and about 15 percent protein. There are 600 Varieties of YAMS and only 400 Varieties of Sweet Potatoes.

Sweet potatoes have almost no fat. A true yam is a starchy edible root of the Dioscorea genus and is generally imported to America from the Caribbean. Sweet potatoes Ipomoea batatas come in two main varieties here in the States.

Though youre not likely to find true yams at your grocery store yams and sweet potatoes are interchangeable in. In the 1930s a new orange version was cultivated and to differentiate it from the white sweet potatoes farmers borrowed the slang phrase yams. What is the difference between yams and sweet potatoes.

Yams Sweet Potatoes are NOT synonymous. To add to the confusion canned sweet potatoes are often labeled yams. Real yams are native to Africa Korea South America etc.

Yams and sweet potatoes may look similar when it comes to shape skin color and flesh color. Yams are in the family Dioscoreaceae which contains hundreds of. Thats because yams and sweet potatoes are different vegetables with totally different origins even though they often get lumped together in the same category in the United States.

Yams tend to be starchy and dry with more of a mild taste compared to the sweeter creamier flesh of a sweet potato. Sweet potatoes tend to be more readily available and are nutritionally superior to yams albeit only slightly. Even the nutritional value of yams and sweet potatoes is highly similar.

True yams are tuberous roots in the genus Dioscorea belonging to the family Dioscoreaceae. Sweet potatoes are a New World root vegetable have a softer reddish skin a creamier interior and often a darker interior. While sweet potatoes are native to Southern United States.

If you prefer a sweeter fluffier and moister texture opt for sweet potatoes. Yams are dry starchy root vegetables closer in flavor to yucca than the sweet potatoes you bake with marshmallows or roast for a kale salad. In parts of Africa yams are known as nyami In the 1900s sweet potato sellers started promoting red-skinned sweet potatoes as yams.

In America where there were no yams they were replaced with the New World sweet potatoes Ipomea batatas which were paler in color and drier in texture than todays popular varieties. Sweet potatoes are a rich source of fiber and a multitude of vitamins and minerals including iron and vitamin C. So to understand the difference between yams and sweet potatoes we have to dig a little deeper tuber pun intended.

One has a golden skin with creamy white flesh and a crumbly texture. Sweet potatoes and yams are similar in many ways so theyre often confused with one another. The other has a copper skin with an orange flesh that is sweet and soft.

It is rough and scaly and very low in beta carotene.

Yams And Sweet Potatoes Is There A Difference Frugal Living Nw