i need you to settle a bet between me and a buddy, is there a difference between a yam and a sweet potato?

Answer 1

Yams are often mistakenly called sweet potatoes, and vice versa, but they are two different vegetables. The true yam is the tuber of a tropical vine, and is not even distantly related to the sweet potato. Rarely found in US markets, the yam is a popular vegetable in Latin American and Caribbean markets. Generally sweeter than than the sweet potato, this tuber can grow over seven feet in length.

Answer 2

Totally different -
Yam is the common name for some members of the genus Dioscorea (family Dioscoreaceae). There are more than 600 species of Dioscorea. Some species are cultivated for the consumption of their starchy tubers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania. They are used in a similar fashion to potatoes and sweet potatoes. There are hundreds of cultivars among the cultivated species.

The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is a crop plant whose large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are an important root vegetable. The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens. The sweet potato is only distantly related to the potato (Solanum tuberosum). Although sweet potatoes are sometimes called "yams" in the United States, they are even more distantly related to the true yam (Dioscorea species).

Answer 3

YES---A Sweet Potato is SWEETER than a Yam.
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True yams (from tropical and subtropical regions of the world) contain more starch and less sugar than sweet potatoes -- and they must be cooked before eaten.

African slaves in the South called the sweet potato “nyami” because it reminded them of the starchy, edible tuber of that name that grew in their homeland. The Senegalese word “nyami” was eventually shortened to the word “yam”.

“Yam” also refers to sweet potatoes that are grown in Louisiana. When the orange-fleshed, Puerto Rican variety of sweet potatoes was adopted by Louisiana producers and shippers, they called them “yams” to distinguish them from the white-fleshed sweet potatoes grown in other parts of the country. The yam reference became the trademark for Louisiana-grown sweet potatoes.

There is a difference between sweet potatoes produced in the northern states and those sold in Louisiana. Sweet potatoes produced in the northern states are mostly "firm" and tend to be drier, more mealy, and yellow in flesh. People in Louisiana enjoy the second type, "soft", which is higher in natural sugar, is moister, and has a bright orange flesh color. Most often it is the "soft" type which is referred to as a yam.
http://www.sweetpotato.org/content.php?display=facts

Answer 4

No,yam: starchy edible root of a tropical root,type of sweet potato.
Now,that's straight from Mr. Webster and his new pocket dictionary.Now I want half of the winnings, cool? Cool...j/k c/ya

Answer 5

Don't know if this will help you out or not, but I looked in the dictionary, and this is what it said:

sweet potato...1. tropical trailing plant with a large, fleshy, orange or yellow root used as a vegetable. 2. its root.

yam....1.the edible, starchy, tuberous root of a tropical climbing plant. 2. the sweet potato.

Answer 6

well candied yams are made from sweet potatoes, ater you peel & boil a sweet potatoe, u slice it & add cinnamon & brown suger & butter, put it in the oven & now u have candied yams...

Answer 7

Yes and no.
They are different plants in different families, yams are sweeter than sweet potatoes.
As far as use, they can pretty much be used interchangably.

Answer 8

yep, a sweet potatoe is white pulped and a yam is orange pulped, but since they taste similar lots of people get them confused.

Answer 9

Yes just ask anyone from the island of Jamaica. I have gone through this with all the island people I have worked with

Answer 10

Yes! Have you never shopped the produce section?