I can't find sweet potatoes in my grocery store, but they always have yams.
2006-06-30 12:56:51 · 20 answers · asked by sweets 2 in Food & Drink ➔ Cooking & Recipes
A colloquial name for the sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), particularly in the United States.
2006-06-30 12:57:28 · answer #1 · answered by Texas Cowboy 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Technically no they are not the same thing. The yam, more commonly grown and eaten in Africa and the Caribbean, has a very coarse skin and is white inside. They are typically very large, some have been known to get as large as 40 pounds and more. It tastes more like our Idaho potato, whereas the sweet potato has a higher sugar content and orange colour.
Rule of thumb, if it's orange it's a sweet potato, not a yam.
2006-06-30 13:20:30 · answer #2 · answered by Chanteuse_ar 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No they are not the same. Yams and sweetpotatoes are totally unrelated. Sweet potatoes are an American plant from the morning glory family, whereas yams are of the genus "dioscorea" and are rarely seen in the US and Canada. The names are used interchangeably in the US, but for labeling reason when usuing the word "yams" it must also be accompanied by the word "sweet potato".
2006-06-30 13:10:16 · answer #3 · answered by margarita 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are similar, in the same family so to speak. I have always been substituting Yams for sweet potatoes when I can't find sweet potatoes.
2006-06-30 13:01:38 · answer #4 · answered by Gwen 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
What really matters if they taste the same. Yeah, they may have different chemical compounds or arrangements. That doesn't matter. They taste the same. Go to your grocery store and pick up those yams that will taste just like sweet potatoes.
2006-06-30 13:00:17 · answer #5 · answered by lefty lucky 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
All sweet potatoes are yams, not all yams are sweet potatoes!
That is to say just like apples, there are many slightly different varieties of yams. Good Eating :-)
2006-06-30 13:02:35 · answer #6 · answered by Pobept 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
they are different. A sweet potato is a root vegetable that grows in temperate climates with a tan outer skin and sweet orange flesh. A yam is a tuber which grows in tropical climates and has a waxy brown outer skin and sweet orange flesh.
2006-06-30 13:09:52 · answer #7 · answered by briennegridelli@sbcglobal.net 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A sweet potato is, ( i hope this is the right word), a nodule like a reg. potato. Not a "Root". Both are seeds. The yam is a "Root". They taste simlar.
2006-06-30 13:03:32 · answer #8 · answered by ed 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yams are a type of sweet potato, e.g. another sweet potato is the kumara.
2006-06-30 13:01:27 · answer #9 · answered by Masterofhogets 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no they are different but im not sure what the difference is but try doing research on www.ask.com or post on the question in a forum that talks about food i guess its kinda like there a re potatoes and then red potatoes I would guess because they tasete different that is one difference
2006-06-30 13:00:39 · answer #10 · answered by Sassy Tease-Sex With Sassy Radio 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋