Every Thanksgiving, my family has a discussion, no a debate,
over one of my favorite vegetables. Are they sweet potatoes or yams?
Everyone wants to weigh in on the question, but no one
has done research on the topic. Part of the problem comes from the grocery
store labels, which aren’t always accurate and are often confusing. If you
resort to canned vegetables, the Bruce’s label reads “Candied YAMS” in large
type, followed by “Cut Sweet Potatoes” in much smaller print. Is it any
wonder that what begins with curiosity ends in near tears as my family argues
over what we should call the dang things?
So this year, I decided to do my homework. Several internet
sources all say the same thing. Sweet potatoes can be yellow or orange. They
are tapered at both ends, and they are smaller than true yams. What most of us
are eating along with our turkey and stuffing are sweet potatoes, no matter
what your grandmother may have called them. So why do we call the orange
cousins yams? That has been traditional since colonial times, and the USDA has
labeled them yams to avoid confusion.
True yams are completely unrelated to the sweet potato. They
are native to Africa and Asia and have a black outer bark-like skin and can
grow to over 5 feet in length. While both sweet potatoes and yams are tubers,
they have a different taste and consistency. True yams are prepared as a sort
of porridge, not fried, baked, or candied. The word “yam” itself tells us about
this tuber’s history and importance.
“Yam” comes from an African word that means, “to eat.” For many in
Africa, the yam is a main food source, important both because of its size but
also because it can be stored for a long period of times, ensuring that the
people who depend on it will have something to eat during the rainy season.
So next Thursday when my family begins the debate, I can safely tell them that the yellow tubers that my mother fries are definitely sweet potatoes, and that the orange tubers that my daughter likes baked and topped with marshmallows are called yams by the USDA. But if we want to get picky, we should call them both sweet potatoes.
And a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
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