Many people in the United States use the terms sweet potato and yam interchangeably.
Both are tubers but the similarities end there; yams and sweet potatoes are not the same vegetables.
Learn about what makes a yam different from a sweet potato.
Orange-fleshed sweet potatoes are often sold as yams in grocery stores, but the two are different vegetables. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES / ATLASSTUDIO.
Yam vs. Sweet Potato
How Are Yams and Sweet Potatoes Different?
Besides being botanically different, yams and sweet potatoes have several other differences.
Sweet potatoes are a new world food, so Central and South America.
PICTUREPARTNERS / Getty Images.
Taste
Sweet potatoes are, well, sweet.
African yams offer a unique taste that is not sugary.
Texture
Sweet potatoes have a soft to firm texture with a creamier interior.
Yams are usually starchy and dry with a rough, bumpy outer skinits often compared to tree bark.
The skin of African yams have a very rough texture, Ajao says.
Once the inside is cooked, it softens but still maintain its shape.
Yams typically have brown or black skin with white flesh.
Thepurple yam Ubeis another throw in of starchy tuber in the yam family.
It has purple flesh and dark skin.
Native to Southeast Asia, it is popular in Filipino cooking.
The best indicator of a good yam is how it feels, Ajao says.
When it is sturdy and hard to the touch, you have yourself a great yam.
How to Cook with Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoesare good for much more than just candied yams.
