Do you prefer sweet potatoes or yams?

[Liberal Veteran]

I found myself at the grocery store confronted by this choice as there was a bin of sweet potatoes and a bin of yams.

I actually chose the sweet potatoes.

[Gothic Sponge]

1. sweet potatoes

[tjdee]

2. I thought they were the same thing!

Lately when I come to DU I see how little I know.
I have also made much use of this avatar lately:
:cry:

[Liberal Veteran]

4. Actually, they aren't even closely related.

Or so I've been told.

[AlCzervik]

6. they are, there are many different types of sweet potatoes

the word yam was slang for sweet potatoes in the south.

[SkyeTerrier]

3. Yams.

n/m

[RevolutionaryActs]

7. Welcome to DU Skye

:party: :toast:

[Misunderestimator]

5. Hate them both... though I like sweet potato pie, so I'll go with those.

[Goathead]

8. Ever had "blue" or "purple" potatoes?

Those are the best. If you ever get a chance, try them. They rock.

[flamingyouth]

11. Yes, they are really good, I agree

I had some in Hawaii a couple of weeks ago that tasted different from the ones we get here on the mainland. They were a little starchier and less sweet, and soooo tasty. :9

[skygazer]

9. They are the same thing

There is a different item known as a yam but what you find in US supermarkets are sweet potatoes. They are just sometimes called yams because it's a common name. Used to work produce.

edited to add - the types most often seen are the dark red garnets, the orange colored Beauregards and the yellow, which are generally called yams. Garnets are the sweetest and the ones I prefer because I just bake them and don't add anything (like butter or brown sugar).

Beauregards are next in sweetness and the yams are the least sweet and the ones I generally advise using for sweetened casseroles.

[Lex]

10. Yams *are* sweet potatoes.

Yams in the U.S. are actually sweetpotatoes with relatively moist texture and orange flesh. Although the terms are generally used interchangeably, the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires that the label "yam" always be accompanied by "sweetpotato."


http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-23-a.html

[Magrittes Pipe]

12. Maybe a couple dozen or so DUers have EVER eaten a yam.

Yams are African tubers that we just don't get in the US too often. Sweet potatoes (which are potatoes, just sweeter :P) are indigenous to the Americas. African slaves took to calling them yams. The name stuck.

[jody]

13. "sweet potatoes" also know as "yams" are delicious raw, baked, or

in a variety of other methods of cooking.

Sweet potato pie is a standard item on Thanksgiving menus in the South just as pumpkin pie is in the North.

Personally, a sweet potato baked in the coals from a campfire accompanied by real butter is a delicacy.

:hi:

[madmom]

14. Baked sweet potato with butter and cinnamon...yum!

[pansypoo53219]

15. personally,

i can't stand either and i LOVE butter and brown sugar.

[Blue in a Red State]

16. Candied carrots

Hate sweet potatoes. Especially with that gross mini-marshmallow topping.

[SmokingJacket]

17. Yams all the way.

Sweet potatoes are just weird potatoes.