Today is


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Yams -- Sweet Potato

 

 

Yams

Dioscorea (Yam)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Plantae
Division:Magnoliophyta
Class:Liliopsida
Order:Dioscoreales
Family:Dioscoreaceae
Genus:Dioscorea
 
Yam is the common name for members of the genus Dioscorea (family Dioscoreaceae). There are more than 150 different varieties of yam. Some species are cultivated for the consumption of their starchy tubers in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The word yam comes from Portuguese inhame or Spanish ñame, which both ultimately derive from the Wolof word nyami, meaning "to eat". They are used in a similar fashion to potatoes, and are sometimes called a potato substitute, though in areas where yams are grown, potatoes are the newer vegetable.

Yam tubers can grow up to seven feet (approx. two meters) in length and weigh up to 150 pounds (approx. 68 kilograms). The yam has a rough skin which is difficult to peel, but which softens after heating. Yam skins vary in color from dark brown to light pink. The majority of the yam is composed of a much softer substance known as the "meat". This substance ranges in color from white to bright orange in ripe yams.

Yams are a primary agricultural commodity in West Africa and New Guinea. They were first cultivated in Africa and Asia about 8000 B.C., probably because they were able to flourish in environments where growing leafy vegetables and keeping livestock was difficult. To this day, the yam tuber remains crucial to survival in the region; it can be stored for four to six months without refrigeration, which makes it a valuable resource for the yearly period of food scarcity at the beginning of the wet season.

Preparation

Yams must be cooked to be safely eaten because various natural substances in raw yams can cause illness if consumed. Preparing some species of yam is a time-consuming process, involving days of pounding, leaching, and boiling to remove the toxins. Yams may be served boiled or pounded into a paste. In the Philippines, the ube variety of yam is eaten as a sweetened dessert called halaya, and is also an ingredient in the fruity, pudding-like halo-halo, another popular Filipino dessert

Yams and sweet potatoes

In the United States, the sweeter varieties of the sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) are often mistakenly called "yams". Sweet potato "yams" are widely available in U.S. food stores. True yams are only found in specialty markets such as those that serve Asian or Caribbean communities.

External links and resources


 


Culinary News

Visit our Food and Beverage News Page containing:

Drinks and Beverage News

Hospitality Industry News

Food Industry News

Food and Drink News (Consumer)

 
Sponsored Links


Cooking Schools

For a small selection of schools in your area see: US Culinary Schools

 
Food Encyclopedia

 


 

 

 
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License (see Copyrights for details). Disclaimers. Wikipedia is powered by MediaWiki, an open source wiki engine..

Questions or Comments?
Copyright © 2005 EDinformatics.com
All Rights Reserved.