What is the diffrense between a sweet potatoe and a yam?

Question

What is the diffrense between a sweet potatoe and a yam?

Answer 1

True yams are not grown in the United States.  If it is grown in the United States, it's a sweet potato.  Some people (particularly in the southern U.S.) simply call them yams.

Answer 2

One is a potato, one is a yam. Kinda like horses and ponies. Different species.

Answer 3

From my experience, the only differences I am aware of are in taste and colour.

Yams can be white or purple while sweet potatoes tend to be orange or yellow.

Sweet potato tends to be sweeter than yam. Also, not sure if this is just me, but yam seems to be starchier and has a slighty more savoury taste.

I'm sure they're different species from each other though. Just as I'm sure there's plenty of variation within each group. Eg: Kumara sweet potatoes seem sweeter and tend to be orange whereas Japanese sweet potatoes are not as sweet and the flesh is like a mango yellow colour.

Answer 4

nothing except the area you live.

Answer 5

sweet potatoes are camote and yams are tugi.

Answer 6

Yams are sweet potatoes grown in Louisianas.  All other sweet potatoes grown elsewhere are just sweet potatoes.

Answer 7

there is a difference in the color and the flavor, taste them raw and you can tell the difference