What is the difference between a sweet potato and a yam? Apparently, in writing yesterday's posting, I fell prey to the commonly made mistake that a sweet potato and yam are the same thing. In fact, that is not true at all:
There are many varieties of sweet potatoes but the two that are widely grown commercially are a pale sweet potato and the darker-skinned variety Americans erroneously call yam (the true Yam is not related to the sweet potato). The pale sweet potato has a thin, light yellow skin and a pale yellow flesh. Its flavor is not sweet and after being cooked, the pale sweet potato is dry and crumbly, much like a white baking potato. The darker variety has a thicker, dark orange skin and a vivid orange, sweet flesh that cooks to a much moister texture.
For the record - I use the darker variety of sweet potatoes when I make the recipe below. These taters are regularly labeled as "yams" at my local bodega, so they may be labeled similarly at yours too (same goes for your local Gristedes or Key Foods).
Comments