話題沸騰中の Difference Between Yams and Sweet Potatoについて、詳しいまとめを分かりやすく掲載しています。

Your eyes are your best tool. Sweet potatoes are usually smaller, with smooth, thin skin that can be orange, red, purple, or even white. Their flesh is moist and sweet, perfect for roasting or mashing into a marshmallow-topped casserole.

Yams, on the other hand, look like they belong in a fantasy novel. They are giant, rough, and bark-like, with dark brown or black skin that feels like tree bark. Their flesh is starchy, dry, and often white or yellow. Finding a true yam in a standard American supermarket is rarer than a unicorn.

Here’s the cultural twist: most of what Americans call “yams” are actually orange-fleshed sweet potatoes. This confusion started in the 1930s when Louisiana growers marketed their sweet potatoes as “yams” to distinguish them from the white-fleshed varieties. The name stuck, and now we’re all just playing along.