Yams vs sweet potatoes skin#

Yams vs sweet potatoes skin#

They have a bark-like skin and their flesh can be off-white, purple, or red. They're native to Africa, where 95 percent of yams are grown. These are the sweet potatoes often mistakenly called yams.ĭespite their differences, commonly available varieties of both sweet potatoes and yams are fairly similar in taste and texture, you can generally use them interchangeably in recipes. True yams are dry, starchy root vegetables, closer in flavor to yucca than sweet potatoes.

The more common, darker-skinned sweet potatoes have vivid orange flesh and are sweeter in taste and more moist in their texture. The paler, thinner-skinned sweet potatoes are usually dry and crumbly in texture, similar to what you’d expect from a white baked potato. Sweet potatoes differ in flavor depending on the variety. In terms of flavor, yams tend to be sweeter and moister. But, the nutrition scale certainly tips to the sweet potato as being the more nutritious choice of the two. Although darker sweet potatoes are often. Which Is Healthier A Sweet Potato Or A Yam?īoth sweet potatoes and yams are health foods to eat. Sweet potato is only distantly related to the common potato (Solanum tuberosum), both being in the order Solanales. The inside of a sweet potato is orange in color. On the other hand, a sweet potato has a smoother skin that is more red in appearance and sweeter as far as flavor is concerned. They are brown in color and have a very rough texture. Real yams have similarities in appearance to tree bark. The reason for the name mix up, according to Sweet Potatoes author, Mary Frances Heck stems from the 1930’s when Louisiana farmers referred to their sweet potato crop as yams in order to differentiate them and the term stuck. Most yams that you see in American supermarkets are actually orange fleshed sweet potatoes. So, what’s the difference between a yam and a sweet potato? At most grocery stores, absolutely nothing. But are they actually being used correctly? Aren’t yams and sweet potatoes different? Or are they? In this post, we’ll give you the details. Place potatoes on a baking sheet line with aluminum foil. It seems that the words yam and sweet potato have started to be used as interchangeable terms, as one-in-the-same. Prick the top of each sweet potato several times with a fork.