In spite of all of the confusion, it's quite easy to tell yams from sweet potatoes: Yams have dark, bark-like skins with a white flesh.Some have purple or red flesh.Yams are drier and starchier than sweet potatoes and are even made into flour.
How do you identify a yam?
Most yams are white inside. Scratch the skin with your fingernail. If it's white, it may be a true yam; if it's orange, it's probably a sweet potato. This can get confusing, though — there are white and purple sweet potatoes, just as there are reddish and purplish yams.
What does an actual yam look like?
The skin of a yam (left) looks kind of like tree bark, while a sweet potato (right) is more reddish-brown. Real yams are entirely different root vegetables that are more like yucca in texture and flavor. They have bumpy, tough brown skin (that looks almost tree trunk-like) with starchy, not sweet flesh.
What does the vegetable yam look like?
They are cylindrical in shape with brown, rough, bark-like skin that is difficult to peel, but it softens after heating. The flesh color varies from white or yellow to purple or pink in mature yams. Yams have a unique taste, too. Compared to sweet potatoes, yams are less sweet and much more starchy and dry.
What makes a yam a yam?
Yams grow from a regular potato size to gigantic proportions of nearly 5 feet long! The skin of a true yam is tougher and bark like and the flesh is white, red or purplish in color. A true yam is not as common in North America, but you can find them in specialty or international stores.
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