Sam I Yam

Sweet potato or yam? That is the question. Which one is which? When you see them piled high in the grocery store, are their labels even correct? And what’s the difference between the two anyway?

Well, I’m glad you asked! I’m going to attempt to answer these questions for all you curious folks out there.

Yams are root vegetable tubers just like all other potatoes; however, they come from different family classifications than sweet potatoes and are commonly mistaken for the sweet relative as their names are used interchangeably in American grocery stores. The truth is, the “yams” you see at the market are probably sweet potatoes. In Fine Cooking magazine’s 114 issue, Martha Holmberg shed some light on this potato controversy: the sweet potato crop, with sweet, orange-fleshed, and smooth-skinned roots, was imported from South America. By contrast, yams which originated from Asia and Africa, are long, cylindrical tubers with rough skin and a starchy, white interior that is anything but sweet. Although most are are distinctly different, there are hundreds of varieties of sweet potatoes and yams, some of which look alike, thus stirring the visual befuddlement.

Holmberg suggests that the reason for the confusion has its roots in the African-American slave-driven south. The African natives referred to the American, sweet, orange tubers as “nyami” (literally “to eat”), as they resembled the starchy yams they were accustomed to eating in their home countries. Over time, “nyami” morphed into “yam,” and there you have it.

Just because actual yams are not as readily available in the U.S. as sweet potatoes does not mean they cannot be found entirely. Most often, yams, identified correctly, can be found at Asian or other ethnic markets, along with their sweet counterparts.

Yams, like sweet potatoes, are rich in fiber, potassium, and vitamin B-6. The satiating fiber nourishes the body with a sense of fullness and a slow release of the yam’s starches into the bloodstream, hindering spikes in blood sugar. These starchy vegetables also have estrogenic properties that when eaten in moderation, can be beneficial to women, helping to increase and maintain estrogen levels.

Even though yams are not as sugary as sweet potatoes, they can be prepared like sweet potatoes, whether braised, baked, stir-fried, boiled, mashed, or thrown in soup. Don’t replace sweet potatoes with yams in a recipe because when the recipe is developed, the natural sweetness in the sweet potato is accounted and using yams in place of the sweet potatoes would be a mistake.

If you’re trying yams for the first time, you could mash them with fluffy white potatoes, cream, butter, and roasted garlic. Want to try something a little sweeter? Bake slices of yams tossed with olive oil, salt,  pepper, and brown sugar at 350 F until tender and slightly caramelized.