What is the difference between a yam and a sweet potato?

Answer 1

Yams and sweet potatoes are not the same thing even though in the US people use both terms for the same vegetable. A sweet potato has orange flesh and is, well, sweet. A yam is white and has virtually no taste. Most American palates do not like the taste of true yams. West Indian and Latino communties cook yams as a starch to be eaten with meat, vegetables, seafood, etc. It's also used in soups.

Answer 2

What the Americans call a yam isn't really a yam at all. It is a type of sweet potato. Sweet potatoes are native to the tropical Americas. They are related to the morning glory. The leaves, young shoots and tubers are all edible.(1)

Yams were first cultivated in Africa and Asia. Yam tubers can grow up to 8 feet in length and weigh up to 150 pounds. Only the tubers are edible, and some of the African varieties need special preparation and cooking to remove toxins.(2)

North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service has a table with a point by point comparison of sweet potatoes and yams. The link is listed below.(3)



To compare the American "yam" and sweet potato, see the fourth link provided below, at the Food Lover's Companion Barrons article.

"Sweet Potato

This large edible root belongs to the morning-glory family and is native to tropical areas of the Americas. There are many varieties of sweet potato but the two that are widely grown commercially are a pale sweet potato and the darker-skinned variety Americans erroneously call "yam." (4)

Edit: Yams CAN be purchased in the US, however they are imported. I saw some in my local supermarket during my last shopping trip. The yams were bigger than my dog, and outweighed him (he's fourteen pounds!).

Answer 3

a yam is actually sweeter than a sweet potato, i saw it on a taste test done on the food network(ham on the street). they are two totally different things. a yam and sweet potato are not even related.

Answer 4

A yam is of an orangy color and a sweet potato is actually white just like a potato.

Answer 5

There is a difference...a real sweet potato is white and a yam is orange...I know this because my grandmother goes crazy and gets pissed when they label yams as sweet potato's. but yes there is a difference.

Answer 6

I don't think that you can actually get yams in the United States. I think they are only in Africa.

Edit to add:
I was right, I just looked it up....
"Sweet potatoes, Ipomoea batatas ("batata" is the original Taino name, whence potato), are an American plant of the morning glory family, whereas yams are of the genus Dioscorea. Yams, which are rarely seen in the U.S. and Canada but are a staple in tropical regions, can grow up to seven feet in length."

Answer 7

The name...its the difference between North and South.

Answer 8

I always wondered the same, but I guess their the same, at least they look and taste the same...to me..

Answer 9

I think theyre the same

Answer 10

same thing. different names in different cultures/areas.