yams vs. sweet potatoe....a Canadian thing - ?

[abbyross 1]

I'm from Canada and perhaps this is just a local thing, but we have both "yams" and "sweet potatoes".

I haven't seen a reference to this anywhere on the forums or in the book, so I wonder if its just a Canadian thing. Apparently there is a difference as the fellow who works in my grocrery's veggie department ASSURED me. Are "yams" still ok for Whole 30 compliance? I just thought I'm check.....

[Kate File 39]

I'm from Sydney and I eat a lot of the big orange sweet potatoes (we also call them kumera). But just yesterday I bought "yams" for the first time. They are completely different. The yams are red and very small, about the size of a a big peanut in its shell. I now need to google to see what to do with them! I presume I have to peel them, but that will be fiddly and make the yam even smalller!

[Tom Denham 10042]

Both yams and sweet potatoes are good to eat during a Whole30.

There is a good article explaining about the U.S. calling sweet potatoes yams for a very long time at http://main.kitchendaily.com/2011/11/16/sweet-potatoes-vs-yams-is-there-a-difference/.

[apreston 17]

I get confused about the differences between yams and sweet potatoes, apparently those of us down in the USA have been mislabelling sweet potatoes as "yams" for many years. Here's a link to Mark Sisson's description of the differences: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/difference-yams-sweet-potatoes/#axzz25SZ8vP45

I'm fairly certain that both are Whole 30 compliant.

[Marcy 12]

i have read the same thing. 99% of what you see in grocery stores is a sweet potato, no matter what they call it.

now when i see them labeled as yams it makes me crazy!

[abbyross 1]

ok thanks everyone. sometimes my store does carry both yams and sweet potatoes. I will use yams for the whole 30 if it's the only thing I can find. what an interesting topic to discuss.