#YAMS VS SWEET POTATOES SKIN#

provides information and tools to help care seekers and care providers connect and make informed decisions. We connect families with caregivers and caring companies to help you be there for the ones you love.Ĭare.com does not employ any care provider or care seeker nor is it responsible for the conduct of any care provider or care seeker. They are considered 'soul food' by some ethnic groups.Ĭare.com is the world's largest online destination for care. Yams are generally seasonal to most areas of the U.S. I'm from the South, and we love love love our yams down there.

Yams are generally sweeter on their own, and I think more flavorful, but the meat is denser and drier than their sweet potato counterpart. Yams are considered 'healthier' because they are richer in beta carotene which is touted as cancer cell fighting. Specialty stores like Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Sprouts, Barons.and any other local farmer's market or health food store are consistent with labeling these two creatures unlike times past. The tubers can be as small as regular potatoes or grow upwards of five feet long.

#YAMS VS SWEET POTATOES SKIN#

Yams are starchy tubers that have an almost black bark-like skin and white, purple or reddish flesh and come in many varieties. Yams are native to Africa and Asia and other tropical regions like the Carribean. All sweet potato varieties generally have the same shape and size - they are tapered at the ends and much smaller than the aforementioned yams. The other has a copper skin with an orange flesh that is sweet and soft. One has a golden skin with creamy white flesh and a crumbly texture. Sweet potatoes come in two main varieties here in the States. The USDA decided to label them as 'yams' to differentiate the two varieties. Since there are two types of sweet potatoes, one with creamy white flesh and one with orange, the USDA labels the orange-fleshed ones 'yams' to distinguish them from the paler variety.Īmericans have been calling the orange-fleshed variety of sweet potatoes 'yams' since colonial times when Africans saw familiarities in them to the tuberous variety.

government has perpetuated the error of labeling sweet potatoes 'yams.' In most cases sweet potatoes are labeled with both terms, which just adds to the confusion.

Yams vs sweet potatoes