# What do yams taste like?



## Anau

I'm talking about the true yam, not sweet potato.  I figured since they're kind of unknown/unavailable to most Western cooks, someone over here might be able to tell me.  Does anyone have a good recipe using yams?  I want to try them out.


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## jkath

Yams are truly amazing. Naturally sweet and creamy, and imo, better than a sweet potato. Here's a link to my all-time favorite yam recipe. It originally called for sweet potatoes, but, being a yam lover, I changed it. I have never had anything but praise when I make these beauties:
http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f18/konditor-orange-cups-4519.html?highlight=konditor+orange


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## Haggis

They taste yammy...err I mean yummy.

That's A-material right there.


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## GB

jkath you are truely lucky to have access to real yams. I have never seen one other than in pictures. Everything here that is labled as "yams" are really just sweet potatoes. I am a bit jealous


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## Gretchen

where do you get yams, jkath? I have *rarely* seen them sold.
They are starchier and lighter in color.


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## GB

And aren't they also huge Gretchen?


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## GB

Here is a picture I was able to find. For some reason I pictured them even larger than this, but still they are quite big.


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## Gretchen

The one time I saw them they were normal sized. Maybe they were not even yams.


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## GB

After doing a little research I found an interesting site. Here is a quote I took from it.


> There are many varieties of yams, and many varieties of sweet potatoes, and certain types of yams may be quite similar to certain types of sweet potatoes. Some of the yams commonly cultivated in Africa are usually very large, sometimes measuring several feet in length and over a hundred pounds in weight.



The site is The Congo Cookbook. Scroll down to the section titled Yams vs. Sweet Potatoes for more info.


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## grumblebee

Haggis said:
			
		

> They taste yammy...err I mean yummy.
> 
> That's A-material right there.


 
  Hehehe...

I concur. They are quite _yummy_ and delicious. The regular variety is nice, but there is also a japanese yam called "yamaimo" which is amazing peeled and grated for salads or fried. Most asian markets should carry it and it's definitely worth hunting down at least once to try.


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## Anau

I find mine at this Asian grocery store (look for Hong Kong Market, if you're in Houston) and I've seen them at a Hispanic grocery store (Fiesta, in Texas only I think). I've planted one that I bought and it grew to about 4 inches wide and a foot long in just one season but I gave to my grandmother because I didn't know what to do with it, so know I'll have to try them out.


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## bknox

Lets just say; There is a yam and a sweet potatoe, they are the same size. How do you tell them apart?


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## BreezyCooking

I had them in St. Lucia, & enjoyed them immensely.  Although it was funny to dig into what looked like a pile of white mashed potatoes & find them sweet!!


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## jkath

Here's something from my grocery store's online info. 








Beauregard Yams - Bulk $1.29/LB






Garnet Yams - Bulk $.099/LB


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## GB

Jkath those are actually sweet potatoes. American supermarkets often call them yams even though they are not yams at all.


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## jkath

hmmm! Then what are the other thingies they call sweet potatoes?


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## GB

They are all sweet potatoes, just different varieties


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## Ripliancum

GB said:
			
		

> Here is a picture I was able to find. For some reason I pictured them even larger than this, but still they are quite big.


That looks like what I ate once. My friend from africa just choped them and boiled them.  They didn't seem to have much of a taste at all from what I can remember. They needed some spice and butter or somthing to give them flavor. The yams pictured above don't really taste anything like sweet potatoes or what Americans call yams.


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## GB

Ripliancum from what I have been reading today it sounds like real African yams are almost always served with some sort of sauce or something to give them flavor as they tend to be very bland.


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## GB

Here is an interesting article discussing the differences between the two.


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## GB

And Another


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## Gretchen

They are all sweet potatoes. Garnet are beautiful--grown a lot in SC. Stores just call them what they want.


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## Anau

bknox said:
			
		

> Lets just say; There is a yam and a sweet potatoe, they are the same size. How do you tell them apart?


 
From what I can tell, sweet potatoes alway have tapered ends while yams can be either rounded and oblong or just globular.  Sometimes I see yams that are branched too.  If you get a chance to see the plants themselves, yams are climbing vines and sweet potatoes creep along the ground.  

Also, sweet potatoes come in a variety of colors from maroon to orange while yams are pretty much always brown skinned.  In the Philippines, there's something called _ube_ that's a variety of yam that has deep purple flesh and is used in desserts.  I've had ube icecream that was really tastey.


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## middie

No yams here in Ohio either.


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## jpmcgrew

Most grocery stores mistakenly call sweet potatoes yams, I think the canned yams are also actually sweet potatoes


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