Quick tip: Most species of yams are poisonous when eaten raw, and Grainger advises cooking yams before consuming. Purple yams, often called ube, have a sweet, toasty flavor when cooked and are popularly used in desserts throughout Asia. The tuber can be dried and turned into flour for porridge, steamed, chopped and fried, and more.
Taste: Yams have a starchy texture and a largely neutral flavor.The similarity of certain yam varieties to the size, shape, and color of pale-fleshed sweet potatoes is what led to the naming confusion in the first place. Their size and shape can range from sweet potato-like to thick cylinders that are several feet long. The hard, somewhat dry interior (which softens upon cooking) is frequently white or off-white in color, but some varieties have purple or pink flesh. Appearance: Yams have a rough, brown outer peel that is scaly and similar to thin tree bark.Like sweet potatoes, a number of yam varieties are cultivated, some reaching several feet long. It plays an important part in West African, Central African, Caribbean, and other cuisines. "A true yam is a starchy edible root of the Dioscorea genus," says Grainger. The flesh of most yams are white or off-white, but some are purple or pink. If you see a vegetable or canned good labeled as a yam, it is most likely a sweet potato. They are considered a specialty item and don't typically make it into a standard American produce section. Unless you shop at a grocery store with an impressive international produce department or are visiting an African or Caribbean market, you likely won't come across true yams in the US. Enslaved Africans in the United States were already referring to existing sweet potatoes as yams because of their resemblance to the African staple crop, and the name stuck. "In order to distinguish it from the white variety everyone was accustomed to, producers and shippers chose the English form of the African word 'nyami' and labeled them yams," says Grainger. The confusion all started when the orange-fleshed variety of sweet potatoes was introduced to the United States in the 1930s.
This includes canned yams and candied yams, which are all made from sweet potatoes.Įven though they are completely different vegetables, yams and sweet potatoes get lumped together because of bad marketing. There's a very good chance that if you're buying "yams" at an American grocery store, they are actually sweet potatoes. Yams are commonly cultivated and consumed in parts of Africa, South America, Asia, and the Caribbean. Yams are a rough-skinned, starchy veggie with pale flesh, while sweet potatoes are smaller and tapered with smooth skin.