What is the difference between sweet potatoes and yams pictures

Most people think that long, red-skinned sweetpotatoes are yams, but they really are just one of many varieties of sweetpotatoes. So where did all of the confusion come from? A true yam is a starchy edible root of the Dioscorea genus, and is generally imported to America from the Caribbean. It is rough and scaly and very low in beta carotene. Depending on the variety, sweetpotato flesh can vary from white to orange and even purple. The orange-fleshed variety was introduced to the United States several decades ago.

Today the U. Think you know the differences between yams and sweetpotatoes? To make life even more complicated, there are a handful of varieties of sweet potatoes: orange, white, and purple. We had Heck break down the differences for us. These are the sweet potatoes that you roast for meal prep , use for Thanksgiving sweet potato pie or marshmallow-topped mashed potatoes, and snack on as fries and chips. They're versatile, easy to find, and the varietals within the orange-fleshed potatoes are all "pretty much interchangeable," says Heck.

She notes there will be "subtle differences in flavor, sweetness, and moisture" between Beauregard brown skin, more deeply sweet, grown in Louisiana , Garnet red skin, more like pumpkin flavor , and Jewel coppery-orange skin, mildly sweet and earthy, California-grown.

Heck argues that sweet potatoes should be your new vegetarian meat replacement because they "can carry spices in a way that other vegetables can't. Treat white sweet potatoes like russets and fry 'em. These ones are served with ricotta and scallions. White sweet potatoes may look like russets, but they're loaded with some of the same fiber and vitamins that orange sweet potatoes have—though not as much beta-carotene. Many times the names " sweet potato " and "yam" are used interchangeably in conversation, in cooking, and even at the supermarket, but they are really two different vegetables.

Although they are both root vegetables, they belong to two different plant families—the sweet potato is from the morning glory family while the yam is related to the lily. Yams are sweeter than the sweet potato, grow much larger and are also nutritionally inferior.

The fact that yams and sweet potatoes are mislabeled on cans and in recipes can cause a lot of confusion. Here's how to tell them apart and cook them properly. Sweet potatoes belong to the genus Ipomoea. They are thought to have originated in Central or South America and are popular in the American South and available across the globe.

Sold year-round, sweet potatoes have an extended shelf life due to a curing process after harvest which increases their storage capabilities over a year. You will find sweet potatoes pre-peeled and cooked and sold in cans or frozen. There are two main types of sweet potatoes , both of which are elongated yellow or orange tubers that taper to a point at each end.

The paler-skinned sweet potato has a thin, light yellow skin and pale yellow flesh. It's not sweet and has a dry, crumbly texture similar to a white baking potato. The darker-skinned variety which is most often and incorrectly called a yam has a thicker, dark orange to reddish skin with a sweet, vivid orange flesh and a moist texture. There also is the Purple Sweet Potato. The sweet potato is used in both savory and sweet dishes, most often baked, mashed or fried.

When it is pureed it can be used in soups as well as baked goods and desserts, including, of course, sweet potato pie. It has also become a staple on the Thanksgiving table, most often as sweet potato casserole with marshmallows. The true yam is the tuber of a tropical vine Dioscorea batatas and is not even distantly related to the sweet potato.