Katra wrote:
> In article >,
> Isaac Wingfield > wrote:
>
>> In article >,
>> (PENMART01) wrote:
>>
>>>> (WhansaMi) says:
>>>>
>>>>> I was just wondering if baked sweet potatoes are a common side dish in
>>>>> restaurants in the southern US.
>>>>>
>>>>> We just ate at a Longhorn Steak House (it's new in Burlington, VT) for
>>>>> lunch, it was nice enough. Decent ribeye that I didn't have to cook or
>>>>> clean up after. Anyway, one of the side choices is baked sweet potatoe and
>>>>> I wondered it that was a common thing in the south or an affectation.
>>>>>
>>>> Oh, yeah. Baked sweet potatoes (with butter, cinnamon, and sugar) are very
>>>> common in the south.
>>>
>>> More likely yams.
>>
>> Nope. They're *called* yams in some part of the country, but they're
>> not; they're potatoes. Yams are not orange, and not sweet, and not
>> small. And mostly not available, except in Asian markets.
>>
>> Isaac
>
>
> http://homecooking.about.com/library...y/aa112497.htm
>
> K
>
A quote from the article in the link Katra provided above:

"The true yam is the tuber of a tropical vine (Dioscorea batatas) and is not
even distantly related to the sweet potato. Rarely found in US markets, the yam
is a popular vegetable in Latin American and Caribbean markets, with over 150
varieties available worldwide. Generally sweeter than than the sweet potato,
this tuber can grow over seven feet in length. The word yam comes from African
words njam, nyami, or djambi, meaning "to eat," and was first recorded in
America in 1676."

I guess they're *not* "More likely yams."

BOB