SC - I Am What I Yam

[lilinah at grin.net]

Lord Stefan li Rous wrote:
>I believe we determined earlier on this
>list that sweet potatoes were New World. But yams were African. So
>I guess if you were considering sweet potatoes a close replacement
>for yams, it could be period. I don't eat sweet potatoes or yams, so
>I can't say how close they are in taste or texture.

There is a problem of terminology when using the word "yam" in the USA, at
least.

The smooth red skinned, deep golden fleshed tuber commonly called a "sweet
potato" and the smooth red skinned but lighter yellow fleshed tuber often
called a "yam" in the US are both actually "sweet potatoes", merely
variations of the same family of convolvulaceous plants, Ipomoea batatas.
According to my dictionary, the word "potato" derives from a word in the
Taino language from the Caribbean.

Yams are different kinds of starchy tubers, from the climbing vines of the
genus Dioscorea (a different genus from Ipomoea, obviously), generally
white fleshed with rough brown skins.

They grow in a number of different tropical regions, including Asia and the
Pacific Islands, in addition to Africa (and there may be some in the South
American tropics, too). They can occasionally be found in stores that
specialize in Pacific Islands foods, African foods, or Caribbean foods (or
here in Northern California, at some supermarkets).

According to my dictionary, "yam" comes from West Africa/Senegal nyami, "to
eat". In my experience, the cooked flesh is very white, not very flavorful,
and has a significantly different texture from Ipomoea batatas, a little
gummy.

So REAL yams may be African, but they are NOT the yellow sweet potatoes
Americans often call yams. They're a whole 'nother animal, errr, i mean,
vegetable.

Anahita


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