# Yams & Sweet potatoes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [November 15, 2001, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yams-sweet-potatoes/93493 "2001-11-15T07:22:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![k.os](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e0b2c6/32.png) [@k.os](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k.os)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yams-sweet-potatoes/93493/1 "2001-11-15T07:22:43Z")
This is in reference to [this](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990604b.html) column. I often use this [site](http://www.foodsubs.com) when I have food interrogations. I found [that](http://www.foodsubs.com/Sweetpotatoes.html) page on sweet potatoes and yams. According to the page, there are a couple of other vegetables that are in the category, including the japanese moutain yam or yamaimo which is white-fleshed and sticky and the boniato or tropical white potato, which is known by many other names and is reportedly fluffier and has a more subtle flavour. Maybe there is information there that could be used to amplify the answer in Cecil’s column. Keep up the good work! ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2001, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yams-sweet-potatoes/93493/2 "2001-11-16T02:09:56Z")
Thank you k.os I plan on printing out that page and passing it around the Thanksgiving dinner table. But under any names yams / sweet potatoes are disgusting vegetables and I curse the remote ancestor that first thought of adding them to the menu. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2001, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yams-sweet-potatoes/93493/3 "2001-11-16T08:08:52Z")
Arnold, you’re… you’re… **A HERETIC!** :eek: ---
**Author:** ![k.os](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e0b2c6/32.png) [@k.os](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k.os)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2001, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yams-sweet-potatoes/93493/4 "2001-11-16T08:15:25Z")
**Arnold** You’re welcome! You don’t like sweet potatoes? Maybe it’s the way they were prepared. I had ‘candied yams’ once and I hated them. Way too sweet. Now, baked or steamed… Yum! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2001, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yams-sweet-potatoes/93493/5 "2001-11-16T19:13:16Z")
k.os, you are making me nauseated. Please remove the words “steamed yams” from your vocabulary ASAP. ---
**Author:** ![k.os](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e0b2c6/32.png) [@k.os](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k.os)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yams-sweet-potatoes/93493/6 "2001-11-17T05:02:59Z")
Ok, I won’t mention them in your presence 😉 ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2001, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yams-sweet-potatoes/93493/7 "2001-11-20T06:03:38Z")
As Cecil said, yams are not even related to sweet potatoes. Most of them are not orange or sweet. In the Caribbean there are dozens of varieties of yams, and they are a nice variation in stews and soups, instead of potatoes all the time.