The yummy portion of your Thanksgiving dinner that happens to be orange ― is it made of yams or sweet potatoes? Even if you think you used yams, they might be sweet potatoes after all.
Yams and sweet potatoes are in fact two different root vegetables. And unless you shop in a specialty store, it’s likely that you’ve only purchased
sweet potatoes, even if they were labeled as yams.
(If you think potatoes are boring, consider the culinary extravaganza of the turducken. What are the birds that get stuffed inside the turkey to make one? Find out here.)
Yams are the tuberous roots of the genus Dioscorea. They are native to parts of Asia and Africa. Yams can grow to weigh over 100 pounds.
The word “yam” is derived, via Portuguese or Spanish, from a West African language called Wolof. The Wolof word nyam means “to sample” or “taste.” Similar words in other African languages for yam mean “to eat” and “to chew.”
Like the yam, the sweet potato is grown for its edible root. But unlike the yam, it is not part of the Dioscoreaceae family. Sweet potatoes are native to South America, and they were the main source of nourishment for early Europeans in the Americas.
So, why do we get them confused?
In general, there are two kinds of sweet potatoes. The firm, white variety was cultivated first in the United States. Once the soft variety was developed for a commercial market, there arose a need to distinguish the two. Because of their resemblance to yams grown in Africa, African slaves in North America had already been referring to sweet potatoes as yams. So, the name stuck.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture tries to help confused consumers by requiring that sweet potatoes labeled “yams” are also labeled sweet potatoes.
Can you “taste” yams in your mind when hear the word, or “see” a color? You may be experiencing a rare and potent neurological phenomenon. Learn what it’s called and more, here.
I do believe I have never eaten Yams or Sweet Potatoes. Though I’ve heard Yams are sweeter. Frankly I think Yams sounds like they would be uncomfortably messy to make into fries.
Sweet potatoes are yammy!
i totally agree with u Nathan
What sighted individual can’t “see” colors?
Uh, yeah, I “see” colors all the time.
they are like evil twins, the sweet potatoes less sweet more evil but has stealen the identity of its enemy, its sibling, the yam. the yam wants revenge and has taken over the mind of the writer of this article, now the world knows the difference between the yam, and the sweet potatoe, one is alledegly related to hitler, the other just as fair
I think they mean do you “see” a colour when you hear the word yam.
They meant picture a color in your mind, you jerks. The context of the rest of the sentence makes it pretty clear what they meant.
fishes have scales too!!!!!!!!
u know, u all made me want to eat yamms. however fishes have scales like shankykranjers said therefore i impeach my craving and change it to what is spam on veggiemite toast, thank you alex trebeck, and i want my YAMMS.
hello my name is spices and because of my name that offends me
“The U.S. Department of Agriculture tries to help confused consumers by requiring that sweet potatoes labeled “yams” are also labeled sweet potatoes.”
Isn’t that just reinforcing confusion?
OMG SWEET POTATO FRIES!!!! I LOVE sweet potato fries! You’re rite “Nathan Hunter.” Sweet potato fries do change you. I’m still not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing though.
[...] “I YAM what I YAM and that’s all that I YAM,” said Popeye the Sailor Man. — “When you eat your Spinach you’ll be strong to the Finnish” — for his Sweet Potato, Olive Oil — What a healthy concept. — The only thing annoying with the potato that is sweet, is the adding of marshmallows — remembering YAMS are also sweet. — After all it is Thanksgiving — thusly everything we’ll eat. — And be thankful for the treat. –>>Rupert L.T.Rhyme [...]
What is the taste difference between yams and sweet potatoes?
Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate it!!! And if you don’t then Still have a wonderful day!!!!
hi
sweet potatoes are disgusting
So whatever they are (the red skinned, orangey inside root vegetables)slice 4 big ones thick with the skin still on, put them in a baking dish with a smutch of butter between each slice, then scrape more butter across the top. cover with 3/4 box of dark brown sugar, lightly sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg, cover with aluminum and bake at 400 degrees for at least an hour. NO MARSHMALLOWS! yumyum city. 
Happy Thanksgiving y’all.
everybody, CALM THE @#$% DOWN. end of sentence
Sorry, Crew. “The yummy portion of your Thanksgiving dinner that happens to be orange … ” is turnips. And the more butter you melt on them, the shinier the orange color gets! Tust me. My cadiologist does not need to know how I gained this knowledge.
@mike
It’s completely re-inforcing the confusion. It’s encouraging the conflation of sweet potatoes and yams, which is actually the problem.
sweet potato fries… yes: especially in China. here they have sweet potato fries, chips, and strips.
I THINK I DON’T GET CONFUSED for which is yam and for which one is sweet potato. I get used having yams prepared separately. Firstly, I boiled yams then later I pound it all. Put it in the baking tray with sliced garlics and mushrooms added. Finally, bake it in the oven. Not just yummy but it’s also authentic.
How does one tell the difference in yams and sweet potatoes? The “meat” is different colors. One is orange w/reddish skin the other is yellow with yellow/brown skin. Which is which?
I am at work and happen to have candy yams right next to me. Or are they sweet potatoes? Heck if I know.
Does that mean Popeye has to say, “…I nyam what I sweet potatoe?”…
Why no pictures? This article does NOTHING to clear up the confusion since it offers not even a description! Here is a more sophisticated Yam or sweet potato ball: Instead of marshmallows, you need a chunk of canned peach, pear, or pineapple for each yam ball. Mash the yams thoroughly, thinning with the juice if necessary. I don’t add sweetining, but if you like it, add brown sugar or agave nectar or honey. Into a handful of mashed yam put a chunk of fruit and ball o=up the vegetable around it. Roll in UN sweetened shredded or flaked coconut. Put them in a buttered casserole dish and bake with whatever is in the oven (it IS Thanksgiving, after all) until it’s kind of browned.
What the Hell? I thought yams and sweet potatoes were the same thing. Now I feel like I’ve been lied to all these years. Thanksgiving dinner, you’re fired!
http://www.saturdaymarket.com/nakashima.htm
I have no connection to the owners of this website or to Nakashima Farms, but it is indeed informative & contains more detail than yet mentioned. A lot of California’s & indeed US sweetpotatoes & yams are produced within 25 miles of my location. The Nakashima family are right at the center of production of both of these kinds of sweet potato. (American yams are not true yams at all, as the aforementioned website admits) Indeed, there are many sub varieties which this article does a nice job of highlighting.
How do you tell the difference? Did you catch the part about yams growing over 100 pounds? They are, then, as you might expect, much longer when mature.
yams are seldom in markets any more. i remember them when i was a kid. it is always generally sweet potatoes now. Yams are sweeter than the potatoes. They are very expensive.
And EYEWITNESS: Turnips. the veggie you are talking about is a rutabega, i am sure. My dad mashed rutabegas and potatoes for Turkey dinner. it wasn’t thanksgiving without them, creamed onions and peas, carrots, dressing (stuffing)biscuits, gravy, cranberry sauce, and several pies. no frozen vegetables back then! No store-bought pies. My mom put the turkey in the oven in the coal burning stove and got up during the night to baste it. big old tom turkeys – or hen???? usually 25# for the size family we had. (Turnips are white and purple, rutebegas or orange. Both are yummy. Ya’all enjoy your day, now, ya hear?
Ruthie – an ex-New Yorker in Oklahoma
We call it “camote” in our town… we love to eat during our past time. Love to share it with loveones… hehehe
@Am and @Ariel: They mean when you hear the word “yam”, do you think of the color and in your mind’s eye “see” it. (Though I had the same confusion for a moment. ‘Tis a poorly worded sentence.)
Living in Okinawa for twenty years, I got used to buying purple sweet potatoes – very good and colorful. Okinawa also has small trucks that drive around selling cooked sweet potatoes similar to the ice cream truck in the States.
UNSA MANA OI! All i can say they are nutritious… so kaon na lng mo.
Nathan got it very right. Sweet potato/yam fries, chips…awesome. You can easily come close to making your own. Clean with skin on, then cut sweet/yam perpendicular to main axis into 1/2 inch thick disks. Arrange on baking tray. Then spray each side with olive oil or other spray. Add pepper and salt to taste. Bake in oven for 45 minutes at 375 degrees. The result is awesome for sweet potato/yam lovers. Try it.
I yam that I yam!
The U.S. Department of Agriculture mandated that yams also be labeled also as sweet potatoes.
I agreed with Mike above that it ‘reinforced the confusion.” I wish the Dept. of Agriculture would erase this confusion by promoting truth in labeling. The deep yellow-orange soft (after cooking) fleshy tuber you find in the grocery store is most likely yams, not sweet potatoes ! The best sweet potato variety is the Okinawan type (white skin with purple flesh) and because of the low supply and high demand, the price per pound is almost double. It’s available in Asian stores. I try encourage every farmer I encounter to grow this purple sweet potato. Sweet potatoes are much more nutritious than the ordinary potato. Read more on Wikipedia.
The picture above shows a sweet potato with red skin and yellow flesh.
marshmallows on sweet potatos are delicious!
What happened to my comments ? The picture above shows sweet potatoes with red skin and yellow flesh. Yams available here comes only in orange skin and orange flesh. The most common sweet potatoes available are red skin with white or yellow flesh. The best in my opinion is the one with white skin and purple flesh (Okinawan variety) which is almost double the price per pound in Asian stores. Sweet potatoes are much more nutritious than ordinary potato. Every part of the sweet potato is edible and does not become poisonous. The ordinary potato can make you sick once it develops sprouts and the skin becomes green.
When there are so many problems plaguing our societies, its strange that we have time and pleasure to discuss what variety of potatoes are we eating! esp. when both the variants appear to be safe and nice to taste.
I love the taste of sweet potatoes and they are healthier than McDonalds fries but when it comes to taste, give me McD’s frech fries over sweet potato fries any day.
Sweet potatoes are great. So are sweet potato fries. Great for year-round cooking.
I agree with you Nathan. They are great for year-round cooking.
[...] the mouthfuls of “THANKSGIVING” – as those “RISIBLE” contemplate –- spray laughing marshmallow and Yam on the “CONSANGUINEOUS” at “THANKSGIVING” — stuffing and embellishing and consuming [...]
I’d like to offer MW an edit to this sentence, recommend changing “Can you “taste” yams in your mind when hear the word, or “see” a color?” to “Can you “taste” yams in your mind when you hear the word, or “see” a sound?” since that is the title of the article at http://hotword.dictionary.com/synesthesia/ which “see a color” is linked to.
Sweet potato fries are super delicious and also nutritious. Still a lot of fat, though!
Here in New Zealand we have the Kumara. Three varietes Red (Owairaka) Gold(Toka Toka) and the sweetest Orange (Beauregard) Grown by the Maori they have since been developed in to large root crop. Take half as long to cook as the potatoe, and deliciouse added to mash or in a salad. Traditionaly cooked in the ground with the other veg and meat and hot stones (Hangi)
in South Africa in the 1800’s, in the Knysna bush, a bush woman’s true worth was only as good as the crop of “patats” afrikaans for sweet potato, she could keep groing in the often poor ground of the bush, this was their staple food. I have no idea if this was yams or not, but it could be…
eitherway, they are super easy to grow, if you have a garden space where nothing much goes on, plant one slightly old tuber and soon you will see the stems grow all over the place and when the stems die down, look for the ground to start cracking, you can have yourself some authentic organic yam/sweet potatoe.
as a kid we ate it raw. Very destinctive taste, but it gives you gas hehe.
Damn I am. Said the fishy when he swam into the wall!
I is what I yam!
Said Sam.
Popeye go home!
And I agree with you Zachary!! I thought they were the same thing!! haha
Yuk, i don’t see how anyone could possibly eat either of those.
you and me both Faith. I aways thougth they were the same, now i frrl like an idiot 
I had sweet potato fries not too long ago and they were AWFUL X-(
Yams are not yummy at all..I hate everytime when my progenitor serve that in Thanksgiving, the mere fact of seeing those yams in our dining tables I feel like I want to vomit.
yams the real name in spanish is yame and it looks like a big yuca they grow the same as sweet jams with the difference that the vind in sweet jams produce many of them but the yame is only one per vind and could be as heavy as 100 pounds each or more the yames flavor is salty and gluei and its collor is purpurish when cooked. so sweet potatoes and sweet jams are not the same sweet jams are white yellow and red but jams or yame are only one collor. thank you.
[...] the answer to that question, read [...]
What do they mean, “might be only sweet potatoes”? I’ve gone to stores where they try to pass of yams as sweet potatoes. I was raised with sweet potatoes on the table at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. And that sweet potatoes are definitely not yams. To use yams is a sin. I remember how horrified I was when I went to an old boyfriend’s house for Thanksgiving, and there was a big plate of canned yams with marshmallows on top. EEEEEK! (no offense to those who like their yams that way)
… oh yes; I love sweet potatoes very, very much !
I remember my youth, when these delicious roots replaced the sweet !
Bye Orazio
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I love sweet potatoes. Have you ever had sweet potato fries? It changes you. And they are much better than McDonalds potato fries. And infinitively times healtier.