From Pine View Farm

Pet Peeve Dept.: Yams Are Not Sweet Potatoes 5

My Daddy spent a good part of his career with the Virginia Department of Agriculture trying to develop new markets for sweet potatoes.

Yams are not sweet potatoes.

Just as green beans are not watermelons.

They are a whole nother thing from a whole nother continent.

Dammit.

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5 comments

  1. Opie

    December 21, 2006 at 10:05 pm

    Is there an advantage to being able to distinguish between two foods when I would never eat either one anyway?

     
  2. Karen

    December 22, 2006 at 7:44 am

    I know they are seperated in the produce area, but in my usage, they are interchangable.

    Anyway, using either, couldn’t this be made into a ‘sweet potatoe bread’ like the potato bread? I may have to try this. We like both of the items.

     
  3. Frank

    December 23, 2006 at 7:25 pm

    Virginia did work on marketing sweet potato chips, but the idea never got anywhere. But it led to a wonderful experience for me, in which I got to accompany my father on a tour of potato chip factories in south central Pennsylvania.

     
  4. Frank

    December 23, 2006 at 7:34 pm

    And to Opie: You haven’t had my sweet potato pie.

    Aside to Karen: It’s likely the produce area of your local market has never actually had real yams. The damn things get up to a meter long. they probably just label sweet potatoes as “yams.”

     
  5. Karen

    December 25, 2006 at 9:03 am

    I actually saw yams! I didn’t buy them, because for baking, the long & skinny don’t fit the look. I bought the stubby & round. Sweet potatoes. (Google = pictures)