Sweet Potato vs Sweet Yam

[SIEAIN]

what's the difference?!...just wondering..since they have similar nutrition facts...perhaps the taste?

when you go to a restaurant and order sweet potato fries...it comes out somewhat dark/orange and tastes sweets...the sweet potatos I got from Ralphs supermarket...it's white and doesnt taste as sweet..?!?!?!

[MAX.MAREK]

one is sweet LOL thats a sweet potatoe. a yam is blend taste of red potates of regular brown potatoes.

[spicyprice]

The yam is the one you are not likely eating anf the sweet potato is the one that you very likely are eating.

Outside of the Caribbean, you are not likely eating a yam unless it is from a specialty store

If your tuber doesnt have a bark-like skin (regardless of the color of the inside) then it is a sweet potato. Sweet potatos can be white or orange/yellow.

[Bmarchio]

[x-ray vision]

http://tinyurl.com/3bbxayv

[spicyprice]

http://tinyurl.com/3bbxayv

There are actually a lot of wrong answers to this question online.

[x-ray vision]

There are actually a lot of wrong answers to this question online.

Can you point to some wrong answers that are on the first few hits of the Google search I provided? There are wrong answers to every question one could ask online. Plenty right here on this board.

[FunkymonkAW]

The yam is the one you are not likely eating anf the sweet potato is the one that you very likely are eating.

Outside of the Caribbean, you are not likely eating a yam unless it is from a specialty store

If your tuber doesnt have a bark-like skin (regardless of the color of the inside) then it is a sweet potato. Sweet potatos can be white or orange/yellow.

[img]http://www.fitnessgurusam.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/tm-ttar_yam_vs_sweet_potato_h.jpg[img]

Came in to post this, more or less.
For macro purposes, I always just use "sweet potato" info.

[spicyprice]

Can you point to some wrong answers that are on the first few hits of the Google search I provided? There are wrong answers to every question one could ask online. Plenty right here on this board.

When i searched it last year (or maybe it was the year before, cant recall) nearly the whole first page came up saying that a white was a yam and a orange was a sweet potato and vice versa without a consistent answer. For me it took going to bon apetit and looking through some stuff there to figure out which ones were actually right. There was a quite long thread going back and forth about it at that time as well because the google search engine top couple were wrong. It doesnt help that the grocery store labels it wrong as well.

Its totally understandable for someone to be confused.

Edit:
To add to confusion, canned yams are sweet potatoes as well.

[x-ray vision]

Its totally understandable for someone to be confused.

I know it is. But some questions are just too easily answered through a simple Google search and don't require a thread. I took a fairly quick look at all of the hits on the link I provided and it seems they all do an excellent job of answering the question.

To add to confusion, canned yams are sweet potatoes as well.

Yeah, that really doesn't seem like it should be allowed but since yam is often used as a synonym for sweet potato (even in most dictionaries) I guess manufacturers don't want to miss out on selling an item that plenty of people call "yams" (but it does have to be mentioned on the label that they are sweet potatoes).

[sawoobley]

The main difference is sweet potatoes have a boat load more vitamin A (beta carotene) than yams. Sweet potatoes also have quite a bit of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory benefits. Yams have more carbs/calories per unit of weight than sweet potatoes. Check it out for yourself.

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/...roducts/2667/2
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/...roducts/2726/2

http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=64
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?t...spice&dbid=113

[spicyprice]

I know it is. But some questions are just too easily answered through a simple Google search and don't require a thread. I took a fairly quick look at all of the hits on the link I provided and it seems they all do an excellent job of answering the question.

I fully agree. I am not into spoon feeding people info that could easily be found. I think my sympathy for this topic comes from my own difficult search. I looked at google and you are right. The top hits ARE correct, although it was not always the case.