What's the difference between sweet potatoes and yams?!
Answers: They both taste the same, and they're the same color...
A true yam is a tropical tuber. What we call yams in the USA are sweet potatoes. When I was a kid there were two colors of sweet potatoes and we called the orange fleshed ones yams and the yellow just sweet potato. I have not seen the yellow fleshed ones in years. Instead we get the orange which have been bred for color and sugar content but lack the flavor of the old fashioned yellow ones.
believe it or not they are not even related...
basically the color and texture is different,,,yams are sweeter and have a smoother texture...sweet potatoes are drier.
They don't taste the same.
Yams generally have a sweeter flavor, are smoother in texture and are very rich to eat, almost creamy . They are generally longer, frequently thinner and have tapering ends.
Sweet potatoes are drier in texture and have a milder flavor, similar to roasted chestnuts. They are generally fatter with at least one end being round or nearly flat.
In the Unites States they frequently call one color yams and the other color sweet potatoes, but there is more than one color of each. Japanese purple sweet potatoes are a real treat if you can get them.
they are the edible root of vines. sweet potato being american, and the yam is tropical.
a Yam is a tuber and is not remotely related to the sweet potato.
Charles C. is exactly right.
nfd