Sweet Potatoes & Yams Category

Sweet Potatoes & Yams

Sweet potatoes and yams are sweeter than ordinary potatoes and loaded with Vitamin A, They're almost always cooked before eating.


Varieties:

Boniato, batata, batata dulce, batiste, camote, Cuban sweet potato
Boniato
Boniatos aren't as sweet and moist as other sweet potatoes, but many people prefer their fluffier consistency and more delicate flavor. Store them at room temperature and use them soon after your purchase them, since they tend to spoil quickly.
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japanese yam, Japanese sweet potato, kotobuki, satsuma imo
japanese yam
Don't confuse this with yamaimo.
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okinawan purple potato, Okinawan yam, ube, purple yam
Okinawan purple potato
The flesh of this tropical Asian sweet potato is vivid purple. It's perfect for tempura, but it can also be baked, sauteed, boiled, steamed, or mashed. It is very popular in desserts in the Philippines where it is know as ube.
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sweet potato, batata, Beauregard, camote, kumara
sweet potato
In American supermarkets, sweet potatoes are displayed next to something called "yams," which are moister than sweet potatoes and have darker skins. But according to the rest of the world (and botanists), we have it all wrong. To them, our "yams" are just a variety of sweet potatoes. They use the word yam to describe a completely different vegetable, something we call a tropical yam. Sweet potatoes are quite versatile, but they're most often baked, candied, or made into pies. It's best not to boil them, as they'll lose much of their flavor.
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tropical yam, cush-cush, greater yam, igname, mapuey, name, namé, nyami
tropical yam
These firm, white-fleshed yams are widely used in tropical countries. They're somewhat bland and dry, so they're often served with spicy sauces.
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yacon, Peruvian ground apple, yacón
yacon
The yacon is a sweet root vegetable that can be eaten cooked or raw.
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yam, moist-fleshed sweet potato
yam
Americans use the word "yam" to refer to a sweet, moist, orange-fleshed variety of sweet potato. To everyone else in the world, a yam is what Americans call a tropical yam, a firm tuber with white flesh. Varieties of American "yams" (sweet potatoes) include the garnet yam (pictured at left) and the jewel yam.
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yamaimo, East Asian mountain yam, Japanese mountain yam
yamaimo
This is a sticky yam that the Japanese peel and grate or julienne for salads. It's also fried or used to make soba noodles.
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