Yams /= Sweet Potatoes?!

[UGAthlete]

So, my mom is coming into town.. LOVES sweet potatoes (we're from GA). Decided to cook her some - I go to the grocery store and pick up some yams. I've thought they were synonymous my entire life. Just to keep things within reason with my diet, I get online to check the nutrition data. Well, turns out there is a pretty significant in difference in carbs (yams having about 60% more).

I might just be completely ignorant in this situation, but I figured if anybody else thought they were the same, I'd share!

 

[Hyper_Cell]

I've never heard of them, is that just an American name for a vegetable?

 

[VTliftVT]

Not so much...

Yam : Nutrition Facts and Analysis for Yam, raw

Sweet Potatoe: Nutrition Facts and Analysis for Sweet potato, raw, unprepared [Includes USDA commodity food A230, Sweetpotato]

Only two carbs difference per ounce.

 

[UGAthlete]

I've never heard of them, is that just an American name for a vegetable?

Never heard of either?

Similar to regular (white) potatoes - lower GI, more nutritious. I believe yams are a topical vegetable and sweet potatoes are -interestingly- a member of the morning glory family.

 

[UGAthlete]

Not so much...

Yam : Nutrition Facts and Analysis for Yam, raw

Sweet Potatoe: Nutrition Facts and Analysis for Sweet potato, raw, unprepared [Includes USDA commodity food A230, Sweetpotato]

Only two carbs difference per ounce.

Oh, I was comparing the cooked data. Still might add up if you eat them often. I was just surprised they aren't the same thing.

 

[abbot138]

Yeah they are not the same thing at all....American's have taken to calling sweet potatoes, "yams" or "southern yams." Real yams are hard to find, I believe they are indigenious to South America and the Carribean....There really isnt a HUGE differenc in macros between the 2....But I get sooo mad when people say yams, small pet peeve of mine .....About came to blows with the produce guy at Shoprite, lol.

 

[SOCOM]

Sweet potato fries are awesome

 

[Druss]

Sweet Potatoes

Popular in the American South, these yellow or orange tubers are elongated with ends that taper to a point and are of two dominant types. The paler-skinned sweet potato has a thin, light yellow skin with pale yellow flesh which is not sweet and has a dry, crumbly texture similar to a white baking potato. The darker-skinned variety (which is most often called "yam" in error) has a thicker, dark orange to reddish skin with a vivid orange, sweet flesh and a moist texture.

Current popular sweet potato varieties include Goldrush, Georgia Red, Centennial, Puerto Rico, New Jersey, and Velvet.
Yams

The true yam is the tuber of a tropical vine (Dioscorea batatas) and is not even distantly related to the sweet potato.

Slowly becoming more common in US markets, the yam is a popular vegetable in Latin American and Caribbean markets, with over 150 varieties available worldwide.

Generally sweeter than than the sweet potato, this tuber can grow over seven feet in length.

The word yam comes from African words njam, nyami, or djambi, meaning "to eat," and was first recorded in America in 1676.

The yam tuber has a brown or black skin which resembles the bark of a tree and off-white, purple or red flesh, depending on the variety. They are at home growing in tropical climates, primarily in South America, Africa, and the Caribbean.

Yams contain more natural sugar than sweet potatoes and have a higher moisture content. They are also marketed by their Spanish names, boniato and ñame.

.

 

[FRKNHUGE]

well i know my grocery store has both, one is yellowish inside an one is orange.
i thought both were about the same in nutritional value
frk

 

[UGAthlete]

I like the orange ones.. I happened to get these at Walmart since Costco was out. They had them labeled as yams - not sure if that's correct though.

 

[abbot138]

Sweet potato fries are awesome

Indeed they are

 

[DBOYY]

not real familiar with either of these, normally i just have bake potatoes or brown rice for my complex carb......how do these compare, i read a quite a few people recomending these in peoples diets...........

 

[Johnny Smiles]

thin sliced sweet potatoes fried in olive oil= AWESOME
-JS

 

[Gunsmith]

thin sliced sweet potatoes fried in olive oil= AWESOME
-JS

Hell yea , I mix stevia powder with cinnamon for my oat and other stuff , take a sprinkle some of that on the chips while their still moist !!! I like to slice mine about 1/4" thick so that they don't get totaly crispy and do this with the sweet cinnamon.
The kids love it !!
put some on top of your head and your toung will beat your brains out trying to get to it

Early in my diet i was using souther sweet potatos almost exclusivly , I love them , I'd bake up a couple dozen at a time and make big bowls of mashed sweet potatos , simply put some stevia and cinnamon on them and your done

 

[Druss]

sweet taters on the left yams on the right.
**broken link removed**

 

[whiteknucks]

get off the diet and mix in some butter, brown sugar, and melt marshmellow cream on them. mom will love them!

 

[Amazon Doll]

sweet taters on the left yams on the right.
**broken link removed**

Nice photo example!

I found a "Korean Yam" (go Gu Ma) at the produce stand run by a Korean family that I shop at. It was darker brown on the outside but still thin skinned and the inside was a dull yellow. It had a unique flavor that tasted like a chestnut.

**broken link removed**



Yummy

 

[Creed428]

sweet taters on the left yams on the right.
**broken link removed**

the store i shop at sells the ones on the right in the picture as Yams
the sweet potatoes they sell look like a regular idaho potato but the skin is lighter in color and the inside is white like a potato not orange like the yam

 

[SOCOM]

Damn, this sht is making me hungry!

 

[Flex2019]

Hell yea , I mix stevia powder with cinnamon for my oat and other stuff , take a sprinkle some of that on the chips while their still moist !!! I like to slice mine about 1/4" thick so that they don't get totaly crispy and do this with the sweet cinnamon.
The kids love it !!
put some on top of your head and your toung will beat your brains out trying to get to it

LMAO...I don't even like sweet potatoes, but I'm gonna have to try them this way if that THAT good.