Sweet ‘Taters and Yams
After I published the fabulous recipe for sweet potato bread, but way before the accolades rolled in from my three faithful readers, a stern voice from across the room suggested the article was not complete and neglected to dwell on points of interest, such as sweet potatoes versus yams, their origins and history, how each should be prepared, along with brilliant recipe suggestions. Only surprise was that she didn’t also desire that I write the history of the Irish potato famine and a through discussion of why the Brits call baked potatoes, jacket potatoes.
Normally I would mount a cogent counter proposal, emphasizing her whiny complains, but her ladyship, armed with set and pouty lips, had already turned her attention to her historical novel, Lord Eagerly and the Unstable Stable Girl, no doubt a riveting tale of lost lands and awkwardly inconvenient virginity. I had no doubt that no matter my argument, my tale of tasty tubers would lack the depths to which Lord Eagerly would stoop.
So, after being verbally assaulted by a mob of one, I return to Sweet ‘Taters and Yams.
Because I’m now left in a feisty, combative mood, I begin with a statement I hear often: Sweet potatoes and yams are the same.
To that, I shake my trembling fist and bellow: THEY ARE NOT!
But, have faith, my faithful readers who perpetually search for truth and justice, I shall lead you to the promised land.
A quick glimpse at the photos, which I went out of my way to provide, clearly show the yam has a red skin and white flesh, while the sweet potato has brown skin looking almost like bark, and bright orange flesh. Also the sweet potato has pointed ends, while the yam is more rounded, like a baking potato.
In fact, yams and sweet potatoes come from different families and originated from different parts of the globe, with yams coming from Africa and Asia, with the name, yam, comes from an African word, “nayami.”
Yams are in the same family as the Lily. Most yams are still grown in the southern and western parts of Africa and there are about 150 varieties. A rather startling fact: yams can grow to be three feet long. Can you dig it?
Sweet potatoes originated in South America, but have spread all over the globe, and at present there are over 1200 varieties. Unlike yams, sweet potatoes belong to the Morning Glory family.
And the confusion goes on. In Southeast Asia, the taro is often called a yam and in New Zealand there is the oca tuber that looks similar to turmeric and is called a yam or a New Zealand yam.
In Japan, there’s a purple-fleshed sweet potato that is incorrectly called a yam. One look at the shape and you’ll know it’s a sweet potato. By the way, the Japanese and especially the Okinawans make candy and ice cream from the purple flesh sweet potato. Delicious!
But, then comes the question, do yams or sweet potatoes have anything in common with baking potatoes? The only connection is that they are tubers. Potatoes belong to the nightshade family, which includes tomatoes, peppers, tobacco and many more.
So, now my suddenly ‘famished for information’ readers pound their fists and scream (between sips of beer): What is a tuber? Where do potatoes come from? Why are they sometimes called spuds????
Slow down! One useless piece of information at a time, please!
Tubers grow in the earth, under the plant, whether it’s potato, sweet potato, or yam. They are energy storage cells, used by the plant to promote new growth.
The answer to the next two questions are related. Potatoes also come from South America and were called spuds possibly because the name is similar to that of a spade used centuries ago to plant and maybe harvest potatoes.
You’ll just have to consult Herr Google or your traditional family recipe book for more sweet potato concoctions. Yams? In Africa they roast ‘em and finding them in the U.S. is a hit or miss proposition. But, hey, they mostly taste about the same.
By the way, why the confusion over sweet potatoes and yams? Any answer is a guess at best, but the confusion is great enough that the USDA requires that anything labeled yam, must also include the label sweet potato. More blah, blah from the so-called minds of bureaucrats.
Now, from across the room comes yet another request. I’ll get right to it after I finish my Jim Beam….not the glass, the bottle.
Suggestions if you have a burning desire to know more:
https://carnegiemnh.org/potatoes-sweet-potatoes-yams-whats-difference/
https://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/school-nutrition/pdf/fact-sheet-yam.pdf
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