What's the difference between yams and sweet potatos? Or are they the same?!


Question: What's the difference between yams and sweet potatos!? Or are they the same!?
Answers:
What is the difference between sweet potatoes and yams!?

Although yams and sweet potatoes are both angiosperms (flowering plants), they are not related botanically!. Yams are a monocot (a plant having one embryonic seed leaf) and from the Dioscoreaceae or Yam family!. Sweet Potatoes, often called ‘yams’, are a dicot (a plant having two embryonic seed leaves) and are from the Convolvulacea or morning glory family!.

Yams
Yams are closely related to lilies and grasses!. Native to Africa and Asia, yams vary in size from that of a small potato to a record 130 pounds (as of 1999)!. There are over 600 varieties of yams and 95% of these crops are grown in Africa!. Compared to sweet potatoes, yams are starchier and drier!.

Sweet Potatoes
The many varieties of sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) are members of the morning glory family, Convolvulacea!. The skin color can range from white to yellow, red, purple or brown!. The flesh also ranges in color from white to yellow, orange, or orange-red!. Sweet potato varieties are classified as either ‘firm’ or ‘soft’!. When cooked, those in the ‘firm’ category remain firm, while ‘soft’ varieties become soft and moist!. It is the ‘soft’ varieties that are often labeled as yams in the United States!.


Why the confusion!?
In the United States, firm varieties of sweet potatoes were produced before soft varieties!. When soft varieties were first grown commercially, there was a need to differentiate between the two!. African slaves had already been calling the ‘soft’ sweet potatoes ‘yams’ because they resembled the yams in Africa!. Thus, ‘soft’ sweet potatoes were referred to as ‘yams’ to distinguish them from the ‘firm’ varieties!.

Today the U!.S!. Department of Agriculture requires labels with the term ‘yam’ to be accompanied by the term ‘sweet potato!.’ Unless you specifically search for yams, which are usually found in an international market, you are probably eating sweet potatoes!Www@FoodAQ@Com

Often called a yam, the sweet potato is not in the Yam family, but that is only the beginning of the confusion!. Nor is the sweet potato closely related to the common potato!. The first Europeans to taste sweet potatoes were members of Columbus' expedition in 1492!. Later explorers found many varieties under an assortment of local names, but the name which stayed was the indigenous Taino name of batata!. This name was later transferred to the ordinary potato, causing a confusion from which it never recovered!. The first record of the name "sweet potato" is found in the Oxford English Dictionary of 1775!.

The moist-fleshed, orange cultivars of sweet potato are referred to as sweet potatoes or "yams" in the United States!. One explanation of this usage is that Africans brought to America took to calling American sweet potatoes Nyamis, perhaps from the Fulani word nyami (to eat) or the Twi word anyinam, which refers to a true yam!.

therefore they are the same, but named differently in different countrys!. It is commonly called a yam in parts of North America!.Www@FoodAQ@Com

They are different, but in the same tuber family!.

Sweet potatos are long and scraggly looking with grayish outer skin!.

Yams are shorter, rounder and have darker brown-red skin!.

But to me they taste almost the same, especially since most people prepare them with brown sugar or molasses!.!.!. which makes everything taste exactly like brown sugar and/or molasses!.

But even eating them baked without adornment, they taste similar!. The sweet potato being a bit sweeter than a yam perhaps!.Www@FoodAQ@Com

What's the difference between yams and sweet potatos!? Or are they the same!?

To answer this kind of trick question I personally think - it is quite simple - Yam in the USA and Canada or North America Region in the world is another term for Sweet Potatoes!.

But however in Africa and elsewhere - especially the country of Nigeria and others - Yam is a different type of vegetable and it is not Sweet Potatoes at all!.

You will see from following evidences below:

Yam is the widespread name for some types in the genus Dioscorea (family Dioscoreaceae)!.These are perennial herbaceous vines cultivated for the consumption of their starchy tubers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania!. There are hundreds of cultivars among the cultivated species!.

The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is erroneously called a yam in parts of the southern United States and Canada even though it is not actually part of the Dioscoreaceae family!.

The word yam comes from Portuguese inhame or Spanish ?ame, which both ultimately derive from the Wolof word nyam, meaning "to sample" or "taste"; in other African languages it can also mean "to eat", e!.g!. yamyam and nyama in Hausa!.

The Nigerian word for yam is adamwanga meaning "Adamo's food"!. Adamo was a chief notorious for his ability to consume incredible amounts of food, and was even banned from a neighboring village for his refusal to stop!.

Yam tubers can grow up to 2!.5 meters in length and weigh up to 70 kg (150 pounds)!.

The vegetable has a rough skin which is difficult to peel, but which softens after heating!. The skins vary in colour from dark brown to light pink!.

The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is a dicotyledonous plant which belongs to the family Convolvulaceae!. Amongst the approximately 50 genera and more than 1000 species of this family, only I!. batatas is a crop plant whose large, starchy, sweet tasting tuberous roots are an important root vegetable (Purseglove, 1991; Woolfe, 1992)!. The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens!. The sweet potato is only distantly related to the potato (Solanum tuberosum)!. It is commonly called a yam in parts of North America, although they are only very distantly related to the other plant widely known as yams) (in the Dioscoreaceae family), which is native to Africa and Asia!.

The genus Ipomoea that contains the sweet potato also includes several garden flowers called morning glories, though that term is not usually extended to Ipomoea batatas!. Some cultivars of Ipomoea batatas are grown as ornamental plants!.

This plant is a herbaceous perennial vine, bearing alternate heart-shaped or palmately lobed leaves and medium-sized sympetalous flowers!. The edible tuberous root is long and tapered, with a smooth skin whose colour ranges between red, purple, brown and white!. Its flesh ranges from white through yellow, orange, and purple!.

Sweet potatoes are native to the tropical parts of the South America, and were domesticated there at least 5000 years ago!. They spread very early throughout the region, including the Caribbean!. They were also known before western exploration in Polynesia!. How exactly they arrived there is a subject of ongoing research and discussion of various hypotheses involving archaeological, linguistic and genetic evidence!.Www@FoodAQ@Com

At the grocery store, if you look at the canned yams it says sweet potatoes in parentheses!.Www@FoodAQ@Com

yams are sweeter than sweet potato's!.Www@FoodAQ@Com

SameWww@FoodAQ@Com

SameWww@FoodAQ@Com

I Would like to know this too, ill keep checking on thisWww@FoodAQ@Com





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