You say potato...

samhexum · December 25, 2025

For many of us, the terms sweet potato and yam may be interchangeable. The truth is, generations of Americans have been getting it wrong, mainly because of some old marketing decisions. Sweet potatoes and yams are not the same. They are two separate foods that aren't even from the same family.

Most of what you see in the grocery stores is a sweet potato. The yams are not sweet but starchy, and it's not often that you'll find one, unless you're shopping at a specialty grocery store. Read on to learn more about the confusion between these two vegetables and where it began, and find out once and for all what the differences are between sweet potatoes and yams.

Yams vs. Sweet Potatoes: What's the Difference?

APPLE.NEWS

Aren't yams and sweet potatoes the same thing? Nope. Here's everything you need to know about the difference between the two, and why we've...

MikeBiDude · December 25, 2025

3 hours ago, samhexum said:

For many of us, the terms sweet potato and yam may be interchangeable. The truth is, generations of Americans have been getting it wrong, mainly because of some old marketing decisions. Sweet potatoes and yams are not the same. They are two separate foods that aren't even from the same family.

Most of what you see in the grocery stores is a sweet potato. The yams are not sweet but starchy, and it's not often that you'll find one, unless you're shopping at a specialty grocery store. Read on to learn more about the confusion between these two vegetables and where it began, and find out once and for all what the differences are between sweet potatoes and yams.

Yams vs. Sweet Potatoes: What's the Difference?

APPLE.NEWS

Aren't yams and sweet potatoes the same thing? Nope. Here's everything you need to know about the difference between the two, and why we've...

Thanks for documenting one of my biggest cooking peeves! When someone uses yams and call them sweet potatoes. It’s ok to call it yam casserole if you made it with yams, don’t call it sweet potato! I’ve only discerned the difference maybe the last 10-15 of my cooking experience, but it makes a big difference. I make a nice Cajun based sweet potato pie at thanksgiving time, it would be a disaster with yams.

This is a subset of one of my major cooking pet peeves - when someone makes a substitute ingredient or dish and proclaims “it’s the same thing”. It’s often not!