I Yam What I Yam...

11/20/11

I Yam What I Yam…

…unless I’m a sweet potato

Seeing as Popeye ate spinach, I don’t think he cared much over the distinction but my curiosity was peaked and I am in quagmire.

Yesterday, I went shopping to get a turkey for our early Thanksgiving celebration on Tuesday (day after tomorrow). Good thing I didn’t wait until today because…oh wait, this rant is not about turkeys.

So I was at Sprouts and I figured I could pick up potatoes while I was there (we were out, but they did not have the 10 pounds bags like I get at Ralphs). However, they sell sweet potatoes for less. After failing with the potatoes, I went in search of sweet potatoes. A  few weeks back I happened to be there when the things were on sale for 69 cents per pound. I didn’t realize it was a special sales price and picked up a few. The next time I was in (I don’t go to Sprouts that often, generally—like maybe not even once a month) they were back to their usual 88 cents.

Well, this time, I searched in vain. Not a sweet potato in sight. However, all was not lost. I stumbled upon a giant container filled with something sweet potato-ish looking labeled red yams. Now, in the past, I have pondered the distinction between sweet potatoes and yams. One came from Africa, but I couldn’t remember. And if you put two side by side, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you which much less remember which I liked better for making my baked sweet potato chips (for lack of a better word). I leave the skin on, btw. Is the skin even edible?

At any rate, I had never heard of a red yam before. I decided to look it up. Of course, I forgot all about it until later that day, when I went to Ralphs. Yes, I know two markets in one day, but I will be going again before the week is out. In the first place, you have to be careful with Sprouts. Some stuff if cheaper, or they have certain products (like organic celery—one of those things everyone says should be organic), but other things are more expensive. So when I went there it was knowing I was going basically for their turkey.

So…I went to Ralphs. We needed potatoes (those regular old white ones—Russet variety usually) because I know someone would be wanting French Fries before my planned trip to the market Monday for fresh produce and whatever else I still need for the party. There, I found my ten-pound bag of potatoes—usually around $4.50, sometimes on sale for under $4. Well, there they were 10 pounds for $0.99. I read the sign three times. Really. A dollar. I’d have bought two bags (I mean I am making potato cheese soup for Tuesday), but what am I going to do with 20 pounds of potatoes? I mean, how long do they last? I guess it depends how many I use for the soup. Maybe I will buy more…

Getting back to the point, after seeing a display with a large sign, “red yams,” I looked around and noticed there were no sweet potatoes. This got me wondering. First of all, are these red yams really a kind of yam or a misnomer for a type of sweet potato? And second, where are all the sweet potatoes (the kinds usually around and the others labeled simply yams.)?

Today, I finally opened Google and started searching. You know ordinarily, when you search for things, not only do you (um, I—how did I get into 2^nd person) tend to find the same info over and over, but it generally is identical—as in one person simply pasted the info from one person’s site to their own—and never giving any credit either.

Not this time. I found a site that gave the nutritional value of a red yam without saying oh, but it’s a sweet potato.

I found several sites saying that in USA, the two are synonymous, sort of. As in, everything for sale in a regular market is a sweet potato. The first popular sweet potato (which is not a type of potato at all—I already knew that) is kind of light or orange in color with lighter, yellowish flesh inside. Then (1930s) along came a darker variety—reddish skin with orange flesh (high in beta carotene, like carrots). They acquired the name yam because first, the things were different from the other sweet potatoes, so they needed a distinct (um, how about red sweet potato?). And second, slaves from Africa already called the darker ones them yams to differentiate them because they were similar to or reminded them of a variety of yams back home.

In this day of international plane travel with produce flown round the world, are my red yams a type of sweet potato or a yam? One site said that because of the confusion, US markets are supposed to label anything that they call yam but is a sweet potato as a sweet potato as well. This would mean being in the market and seeing it say both. Red yam sweet potatoes. Well, as near as I can remember, the signs only said red yams.

I found a site that was informative about types of both. The writer went to an Asian market and purchased a variety of sweet potatoes and yams. Okay, so you can get yams in the US, but do you have to go to a special store? Even the person doing this article ended up with one “yam” that she wasn’t certain whether it was a yam or sp. She did show ube and at least now I know that ubes are a type of yam. They are purple and you can get ube ice cream at Filipino markets and restaurants. Goldilocks (a Filipino bakery and restaurant) also uses ube in a bread loaf with it swirled for a beautiful purple effect.

As near as I can tell, the “red yams” might actually be garnet sweet potatoes. So why not label them as such. I mean I’d never heard of a red yam before. And as for Thanksgiving, people always talk about sweet potatoes (as in mashed and covered in marshmallows) or sweet potato pie. At Sprouts, I didn’t buy very many (considering the great price) just in case no one liked them.

I finally decided to search for a sweet potato association and found a council (sweetpotatousa.org). Surprisingly, there was nothing on their site about the yam/sweet potato confusion. I actually emailed them and even heard back. They were very helpful and I did determine that what I bought were sweet potatoes. I also figured out that my favorite ones are called jewel sweet potatoes. I also determined that the darker, softer flesh varieties do not make for crispy fries—the flesh gets mushy. And on my next visit to the market, the regular sweet potatoes were out; guess I was just there between shipments or stocking or something.

And now, for someone who really isn't much of a sweet potato fan, I know more than I ever wanted to about sweet potatoes. Just don't show me funny-looking root vegetable and ask me which one it is :)