Yams? Sweet Potatoes? Which is which?

What is marketed in the United States as “yams” are really a variety of sweet potato, grown in the South. A true yam is a starchy edible root of the Dioscorea genus, and is generally imported to America from the Caribbean. It is rough and scaly and very low in beta carotene.

Yams? Sweet Potatoes? Can you tell?

“Yams,” as the industry and general public perceives them, are actually sweet potatoes with a vivid orange color and a soft moist consistency when cooked. They tend to have a sweeter flavor. Other varieties of sweet potatoes are lighter skinned and have a firmer, drier texture when cooked. Sweet potatoes are smooth with skins that can vary in color, depending on the variety, from pale yellow to deep purple to vivid orange. Flesh colors can range from light yellow to pink, red, purple or orange.

So where did all of the confusion come from? Many years ago when orange flesh sweet potatoes were introduced into the southern United States, producers and shippers desired to distinguish them from the more traditional white flesh types.  Many newcomers to America saw the sweet potatoes and referred to them as yams due to the similarities that were seen from between the sweet potatoes and their native “yam”.  The African word “nyami” referring to the starchy, edible root of the Dioscorea genus of plants was adopted in its English form, “yam”.

Yams in the United States are actually sweet potatoes with relatively moist texture and orange flesh. Although the terms are generally used interchangeably, the US Department of Agriculture requires that the label “yam” always be accompanied by “sweet potato.”

Why did I bring this up? Because I was called out on putting "smashed yams" on my menu list. And they were right. What I served was in fact a sweet potato. It was a mashed sweet potato, boiled and then mashed with butter just like you would a spud. And it was light colored, just like a spud but it had a bit of a sweeter taste to it.

So in fact, we did have the peppers and sausage last night for dinner and tonight we start the new menu.

The sausage was Chicken Apple Sausage. According to my search engine (Startpage) this is a healthier choice than nearly any other sausage.

Why are frogs so happy??

Because they eat whatever bugs them!