Am I buying sweet potatoes or yams?!
Answers: I am confused. I thought I was buying yams then someone told me that I was not buying yams but sweet potatoes. What is the difference? What are the health benefits?
That's a good question. I have always thought that the "sweet potato" had dry, light-colored flesh and the "yam" had moist and sweet orange-colored flesh. Apparently, though, true yams are not grown in the US. What stores call "garnet yams" are really sweet potatoes.
Sweet potatoes are a good source of potassium, beta-carotene (they have 5 times the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A), vitamin C, and vitamin B6. They are also rich in complex carbohydrates. These nutrients help to protect against heart attack and stroke. The potassium helps maintain fluid and electrolyte balance in the body cells, as well as normal heart function and blood pressure.
Wild Mexican "yams" which are related to the sweet potato, seem to have anti-weight-gain, anti-cancer, and anti-aging properties, according to one doctor.
True yams do not contain as much Vitamin A and C as sweet potatoes.
My opinion is that they're delicious no matter what you call them!
Sweet potatoes <*-*>
They are the same...
The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), commonly called a yam in parts of the United States (especially in the southern and western portions of the country; this terminology causes some confusion with true yams), is a crop plant whose large, starchy, sweet tasting tuberous roots are an important root vegetable. The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens. The sweet potato is only distantly related to the potato (Solanum tuberosum). It is even more distantly related to the true yam (Dioscorea species) which is native to Africa and Asia.
they are the same
There is no real difference.
Yams are a darker color on both the inside and outside.
The yam is more of a reddish color and the sweet potato is more yellow --inside and out. The yam has a sweeter flavor when cooked and it isn't as stringy as the sweet potato. Try them both and you can find out the difference and decide which you like best. I love yams baked in the oven and just cut them open and put butter on them-- I like lots of butter.
same...and they are very healthy unless you bathe them in sugar,butter,marshmellows and all that good stuff....if possible eat fresh sweet potatoes verses store bought can ones....enjoy!
yam
I could be either.
Sweet potatoes can have either reddish/purplish skin with whitish flesh or tanish/brown skin with yellow flesh.
Yams usually have brown hairyish skin with whitish skin
Hope this helps