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...

+ *SidewaysDM* · December 25, 2025

Apparently at Giant grocery stores in the Philadelphia area, sweet potatoes are yams. At least, when doing self checkout. Before Thanksgiving, I was purchasing four large sweet potatoes, searching the vegetable list on the checkout screen and was unable to find. Tried typing sweet potato into self checkout search…..nothing. I put my help light on, and a fit, young, handsome employee came over and typed in the word yams. He gave me the biggest smile and I felt instantly aroused! Now thinking about it, I will make that same mistake anytime that employee is monitoring the self checkout out. He was way yummier than the sweet potatoes (yams) were! Sorry for steering this story in a different direction! New topic…..Sweet potatoes or yams, which vegetable is sweeter, harder and tastier?

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!