Sweet Potatoes,Yams and Taro Archives - Wiffens (2024)

FAQs

Which is healthier, sweet potato or taro? ›

The purple root can be found as a curry, pounded into mashed potatoes, transformed into ice cream, and even liquefied into a beautiful boba drink. Along with its versatility, taro is much healthier compared white potatoes, and even sweet potatoes.

Purple yams and taro root look similar, hence the confusion between the two. Nonetheless, when stripped of their skins, they are different colors. Taro is grown from the tropical taro plant and is not one of the nearly 600 types of yams. taro plant, and unlike purple yams, they are not a species of yam.

While production of the true yam is concentrated in Africa, the sweet potato, Ipomoea batatas, is native to the Americas — the root of a vine related to the morning glory.

Sweet potatoes can be good for people with diabetes. After all, these tubers are one of the most nutritious vegetables grown in the subtropical and tropical areas of the world. However, you still should eat them in moderation.

Taro also contains a special type of starch, known as resistant starch, that humans cannot digest and thus does not raise blood sugar levels. Roughly 12% of the starch in cooked taro root is resistant starch, making it one of the better sources of this nutrient ( 5 ).

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).

Yams and Taro are not of the same family as sweet potato.

Four types of taro exist in the Pacific: Xanthosoma (palagi taro), Colocasia esculenta (true taro), Cyrtosperma (giant swamp taro), and Alocasia (giant taro) (Bailey, 1992; Malolo, Matenga-Smith, & Hughes, 1999).

Taro is a plant which derives from Asia, and is found mostly in the tropical regions. Taro roots have a similar texture to sweet potato taste almost neutral.

China is the world's biggest producer and consumer of sweetpotato, where it is used for food, animal feed, and processing (as food, starch, and other products).

Why do Southerners call sweet potatoes yams? ›

The word yam is derived from nyam, nyami, or nyambi, verbs of various African dialects meaning either “to taste” or “to eat.” The prevailing theory is that enslaved Africans applied these terms over time to the sweet potatoes available in the Americas, which took the place in their diet of the staple root vegetable ...

By the time Christopher Columbus arrived in the 'New World' in the late 15^th century, sweet potatoes were well established as food plants in South and Central America. Columbus brought sweet potatoes back to Spain, introducing them to the taste buds and gardens of Europe.

People with kidney problems must avoid eating sweet potatoes because an improper functioning kidney cannot remove potassium from their body, causing high potassium levels that can be harmful to them. Sweet potatoes contain high amounts of oxalates that may increase the risk of calcium-oxalate kidney stones.

“Sweet potatoes are a source of carbohydrates, which raise blood sugars,” says White. “People with diabetes can eat carbs but need to watch portions of foods with carbs.” What this means: Limit portions to half a sweet potato per meal or snack.

Its high fibre content contributes to a glycemic index of 54, significantly lower than that of potatoes having a glycemic index of 80. This makes yam better suited for weight watchers, diabetics and those with heart disease as it does not create sharp increase in insulin response.

Its high levels of vitamins can also promote healthy vision, skin, circulation, and immune system function. Taro root has more than twice as much fiber as potatoes.

Sweet potatoes tend to have slightly fewer calories per serving than yams. They also contain a bit more vitamin C and more than triple the amount of beta-carotene, which converts to vitamin A in the body.

CSPI ranked the sweet potato number one in nutrition of all vegetables. With a score of 184, the sweet potato outscored the next highest vegetable by more than 100 points. Points were given for content of dietary fiber, naturally occurring sugars and complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, iron and calcium.