Baked Sweet Potatoes (Yams) (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between yams and sweet potatoes Yahoo Answers? ›

"They are not related or even in the same plant family," Harvey said. "Sweet potatoes are considered storage roots and are grown from plant vine cuttings called slips. Yams are considered tubers and are grown from pieces of the tubers."

Sweet potatoes cook more quickly than yams, are moister, and they taste distinctly sweet. When cool, they do not turn steadfastly glutinous and solid.

It's easy to lump sweet potatoes (commonly called yams) and potatoes together, but they come from different plant families. They're only distantly related, but I've realized that they do bake up similarly. Both are best baked in the oven without foil, directly on the rack, at high heat.

Do you have to poke holes in sweet potatoes before baking? Typically holes are poked into a sweet potato to prevent a potato exploding in your oven. However, the chance of that happening is low, and according to Lifehacker, sweet potatoes will retain more flavor if you don't poke them.

You may not want to substitute true yams in your Candied Yams recipe since their flavor isn't the same as the sweet potatoes in the dish. They can be substituted for sweet potatoes in more savory dishes. Treat them like potatoes to make mashed yams or yam fries.

When soft varieties were first grown commercially, there was a need to differentiate between the two. African slaves had already been calling the 'soft' sweet potatoes 'yams' because they resembled the yams in Africa. Thus, 'soft' sweet potatoes were referred to as 'yams' to distinguish them from the 'firm' varieties.

Although both veggies are very close in fiber, protein, vitamin C, and magnesium, sweet potatoes are the healthier option because they are lower in overall calories, lower in carbohydrates, and higher in beta carotene (vitamin A).

While both yams and sweet potatoes are root vegetables, the taste of each is entirely unique. The orange-fleshed sweet potatoes tend to be much sweeter and creamier in texture compared to yams which have a white flesh that's starchier and more similar to a white potato.

A food has a low GI if it causes blood sugars to rise slowly, whereas a high GI food causes blood sugars to rise quickly. Cooking and preparation methods can cause a food's GI to vary. For example, sweet potatoes have a medium-to-high GI, varying from 44–96, whereas yams have a low-to-high GI, ranging from 35–77 (6).

Wrapping sweet potatoes in foil helps in a few ways. It prevents the exterior of the tuber from drying out and overheating too quickly, which would minimize enzymatic activity; it also results in a more evenly cooked texture.

Do you rinse yams before cooking? ›

Scrub the yams thoroughly with a brush, then pat dry. You can peel them or leave the skins on.

3. Do I need to soak sweet potatoes before baking? Many readers ask if they really need to soak the sweet potatoes before baking to get that great crunch. I've tried it both ways and found that soaking the sweet potato fries for about 30 minutes or so in plenty of cold water does help them crisp up a bit more.

Yams have rough, dark brown skin that is often compared to tree bark, and their flesh is dry and starchy like a regular potato. Sweet potatoes have smooth reddish skin, softer flesh (when cooked), and a sweet flavor.

Despite the name, both sweet potatoes and yams have amounts of sugar that are tolerable for people with diabetes. One cup of sweet potato has 6 grams of sugar, and 1 cup of yams has 0.5 grams of sugar, per the USDA.

In the United States, the terms "yam" and "sweet potato" are used interchangeably, but they are completely different vegetables. Yams are starchy and have a rough, brown exterior. They can grow up to 45 feet long and are eaten in parts of Latin America, West Africa, the Caribbean, and Asia.

Sweet potatoes belong to the morning glory family of plants, called the Convolvulaceae family. Yams belong to a different family, called Dioscoreaceae. The edible parts of sweet potatoes are called roots, and yams are classified as tubers.