What you know as yams are most likely not actually yams.

June 23, 2022 11:09 AM

The Carnegie Museum of Natural History provides a quick introduction to the genera we know as yams, sweet-potatoes, and potatoes.

Every tuber is special and the differences can be important [pdf].

posted by eotvos (3 comments total)

Yams. Why oh why did the Oca (sometimes called the New Zealand Yam though it is from South America) never seem to make it here to the US in any scale (you can buy seeds but I have never seem them in any shop, farmers market, or restaurant). I really want some now - guess I’ll have to grow my own.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 11:28 AM on June 23, 2022

But the supermarket calls them all sweet potatoes! Make them stop.
posted by kozad at 3:53 PM on June 23, 2022

I don't actually know anything as yams. Nothing is sold under that name here. Solved!
posted by Too-Ticky at 11:59 PM on June 23, 2022