# Why do people add sugar to sweet potatoes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 26, 2009, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/519071 "2009-11-26T23:35:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/519071/41 "2009-11-27T15:00:53Z")
> [@amarone](#): > > Well, you should, if you want any semblance of decent taste, but all too often they are boiled. I was at a cook-out recently where they even boiled Johnsonville brats, then just finished them off for 5 minutes on the grill. What a waste. Seriously? Wow. I’ve never heard of anyone boiling bratwursts, though I agree with you that hot dogs are just as often boiled as they are grilled. Also, **plant** , you can’t mock British food for sounding unappetizing when you live in the South. Our food is delicious, but is often pretty disgusting sounding: hocks, grits, greens, gizzards, sousse, burgoo, wilted lettuce, chow chow, boiled peanuts, mud pie, and buttermilk pie just off the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/519071/42 "2009-11-27T15:22:03Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Also, **plant** , you can’t mock British food for sounding unappetizing when you live in the South. Our food is delicious, but is often pretty disgusting sounding: hocks, grits, greens, gizzards, sousse, burgoo, wilted lettuce, chow chow, boiled peanuts, mud pie, and buttermilk pie just off the top of my head. You forgot okra. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/519071/43 "2009-11-27T16:08:46Z")
> [@amarone](#): > > I think that is quite likely. It is so hot that you don’t really notice much else. Just to be clear, I wasn’t claiming that American mustard isn’t sweet and English mustard is; just that the most popular ‘classic’ American mustard contains no added sugar, while the most popular (here, at least) English brand does contain added sugar. When I get around to the turkey sandwich today, I think I’ll have it with Colemans for a change. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/519071/44 "2009-11-27T16:19:16Z")
> [@jasonh300](#): > > As you seem to indicate some knowledge of here: yams and sweet potatoes aren’t the same thing. I’m not exactly clear on the difference and I really don’t understand the wikipedia articles, but in my experience, you candy a yam, not a sweet potato. A sweet potato is similar to a regular potato but has a slight sweet taste to it. I personally don’t care for sweet potatoes and I really don’t think that sugar would make it any better. I’m not sure what an uncandied yam tastes like. No they aren’t the same thing but people around here use them interchangeably. In corner stores you’ll see signs like this: Yams (Sweet Potatoes) 1.25 a lb. And vice versa. Yams and sweet potatoes are similar in taste and sweetness. Where yams (in my opinion) outshine the potatoes is in texture. I’m still puzzled over the “I eat my sweet potatoes baked-- who ever heard of candied sweet potatoes! That’s ridiculous!” trend of this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/519071/45 "2009-11-27T16:21:25Z")
> [@BMax](#): > > You wouldn’t add sugar to carrots or peas, both of which are sweet-ish vegetables. I would. For Thanksgiving, I made roasted carrots with maple syrup. My 3.5 year old niece liked them, and they weren’t too overwhelmingly sweet for the adults (though we are all Americans, maybe they’d have been too sweet for others). Maybe it’s a way to get kids to eat sweet potatoes? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/519071/46 "2009-11-27T16:31:55Z")
[What’s the difference between yams and sweet potatoes?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1326/whats-the-difference-between-yams-and-sweet-potatoes) > [@](#): > > Yams, which are rarely seen in the U.S. and Canada but are a staple in tropical regions, can grow up to seven feet in length. I call what we have here ‘white sweet potatoes’ and ‘red sweet potatoes’, the red ones being sweeter and the white ones being the ones I prefer to eat. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/519071/47 "2009-11-27T16:44:38Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > For Thanksgiving, I made roasted carrots with maple syrup. In a holiday dish served when I was a child, carrots were boiled with brown sugar that cooked down to a syrup. Yesterday’s sweet potato pie was made from the contents of cans that said, “Sweet Potatoes-Yams” Cecil be darned. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/519071/48 "2009-11-27T16:44:51Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > [What’s the difference between yams and sweet potatoes?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1326/whats-the-difference-between-yams-and-sweet-potatoes) > > I call what we have here ‘white sweet potatoes’ and ‘red sweet potatoes’, the red ones being sweeter and the white ones being the ones I prefer to eat. Oh, you can get yams in my part of the U.S. And real sorrel and ginger beer and yucca and tamarindos and cenepas. . . thank the Gods of the Caribbean harvests for that. ---
**Author:** ![Taber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@Taber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taber)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/519071/49 "2009-11-27T18:43:19Z")
> [@amarone](#): > > Sausages in baked pancake batter - what is the issue? Huh, I didn’t know that Jimmy Dean’s sausage wrapped in chocolate chip pancakes on a stick was just a variation of an old English classic. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/519071/50 "2009-11-27T19:01:01Z")
> [@Taber](#): > > Huh, I didn’t know that Jimmy Dean’s sausage wrapped in chocolate chip pancakes on a stick was just a variation of an old English classic. Ah, there you go again - putting sweet stuff in where it isn’t needed. Lose the chocolate! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/519071/51 "2009-11-28T04:39:21Z")
> [@janeslogin](#): > > “Why do people add sugar to sweet potatoes?” It strikes me that there are different ways to eat foods. I remember a post where a British person mentioned that an English meal might have potatoes cooked in two or three different ways. Irish potatoes may be baked, fried, mashed, potatoes au gratin. It’s just another way to eat sweet potatoes, or yams, Cecil be darned. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/519071/52 "2009-11-28T04:54:48Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Cecil be darned. Are you calling Cecil a sock? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/519071/53 "2009-11-28T05:04:45Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Are you calling Cecil a sock? :dubious: Well, no, I’m just saying he lives North of the Mason Dixon and can’t be trusted. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/519071.md?page=2)