What’s the difference between yams and sweet potatoes?

StealthToad@lemmy.world to No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world – 150 points –

Boss and former coworker got into a very amusing argument over this and it got me curious.

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Our cans of sweet potatoes have an alternate label on the back that says yams, so apparently not much. (This is in the USA)

You have sweet potato's in cans? That sounds awful.are they pre-cooked? I don't understand why?

They're primarily used in as an ingredient. Often they are suspended in a sweet syrup and are thoroughly mashed to make a pie filling, it's actually not bad.

They’re quicker for making sweet potato pie since they’re already cooked. You add plenty of other ingredients to the filling so there’s less difference in the final product between canned and fresh

Why do we use them interchangeably for a casserole dish, but always say sweet potato pie - never yam pie? Sounds weird. Same with fries.

“Yam” doesn’t roll off the tongue as beautifully or sound nearly as appetizing

That still doesn't make sense, if you're making a fresh pie but using canned ingredients, you might as well buy a pie. I'm sure they taste OK, but sweet potato's are on of the easiest things to cook, if you want them soft before you put them in the pie, put them in a microwave for a bit.

USA has thanksgiving in a can, Christmas dinner in a can, even SPAM in a can.

Other places have SPAM not in a can?

yeah it says they're yams, but they have no relation to yams at all