Author Topic: yams vs. sweet potatoes  (Read 9246 times)

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Offline Idahomom

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yams vs. sweet potatoes
« on: March 13, 2006, 22:07:26 pm »
I just started feeding ds pears and he loves them.  I got the recipe from an Anabel Karmel book and decided to try sweet potatoes next.  I have always been confused between sweet potatoes and yams.  When I went to the produce section of the grocery store I made sure to get a sweet potatoe as that is what is called for in the recipe.  It is white when peeled and very dry.  I cooked it for the 15 min recommended in the cookbook, then pureed it in the blender.  It needed about 1 and 1/4 cup of cooking liquid added to puree up nicely.  What confuses me is that it turned out a green color and very pasty, but bland.  I can work with the consistency, thin with formula.  The store-bought jar of sweet potatoe is the color of yams - orange.  Should I have gotten a yam instead, because this sweet potatoe is not sweet and I wonder if the recipe is really for yams.

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Offline Colin Macs Mom

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Re: yams vs. sweet potatoes
« Reply #1 on: March 13, 2006, 22:30:58 pm »
Sweet potatoes and yams are very similar except in their color and the consistency is a little different. Most people will tell you that they're basically the same thing and can be used interchangably. As far as the taste goes they're not too different. I would suggest going with whichever one has the texture/consistency that your lo prefers. The store bought jar you have could very well be yam rather than sweet potato, or it's got color added.

That's weird that your puree came out green, I do sweet potato for my ds all the time, it's his favorite, but it's never been even slightly green. I wonder if the potato wasn't quite ripe yet? 
Jessica
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Offline Idahomom

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Re: yams vs. sweet potatoes
« Reply #2 on: March 14, 2006, 00:18:45 am »
I thought that it might not have been ripe also because it was very hard to cut.  I don't know how to tell if they are ripe, what color was yours when you cooked it?  It didn't turn green until it was pureed, it stayed white until I started the blender.  I've had yams and they tasted nothing like this sweet potato.  It doens't really have a taste, just bland.  I guess I'll get another and try again and see what happens.  I'm not sure I should feed it to him now.

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Offline Colin Macs Mom

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Re: yams vs. sweet potatoes
« Reply #3 on: March 14, 2006, 00:44:53 am »
Mine have been light yellow when cooked. They should still be stiff when you cut, but not difficult. Much like a regular baking potato. I would definitely suggest trying another one.  :D
Jessica
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Offline Idahomom

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Re: yams vs. sweet potatoes
« Reply #4 on: March 14, 2006, 03:27:28 am »
Thanks! looks like your cutie is almost exactly one month older than mine!

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Offline Colin Macs Mom

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Re: yams vs. sweet potatoes
« Reply #5 on: March 14, 2006, 19:51:57 pm »
You're right, one month and one day!  ;D
Jessica
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Offline bugbert's mama

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Re: yams vs. sweet potatoes
« Reply #6 on: March 22, 2006, 07:24:30 am »
hello!  according to ruth yaron's "super baby food" book, true yams are not found in the U.S.  the orange "yams" are actually orange sweet potatoes.  i, too, recently experienced green sweet potatoes for the 1st time.  i've made it before and it's stayed yellowish/whiteish, but this last time it turned greenish.  i tasted it and it tasted the same as the batches i've made before but the color threw me off so i decided to make the orange "yams" instead.

Offline Idahomom

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Re: yams vs. sweet potatoes
« Reply #7 on: March 22, 2006, 22:08:05 pm »
Thanks for the post, I ended up dumping the batch I froze.  There was one portion that didn't fit with the frozen stuff that I fed to him fresh.  They tasted fine and the texture was great.  But the frozen ones came out like rubber and formula would not thin it, it was just chunks floating in formula  :-X :-X :-X :-X YUCK! I'll give yams a try, but I'm trying a butternut squash next.  Wish me luck!!

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Offline Mom to M&M

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Re: yams vs. sweet potatoes
« Reply #8 on: March 23, 2006, 16:55:13 pm »
Re them tasting a bit strange, I don't puree potatoes (neither white nor sweet ones) but instead boil or bake them and then push them through a potato ricer and and then thin with either cooking water or formula. This way they are not so starchy tasting and really nice and smooth too.
Karen: Proud Mama to Marisa (8-11-05) and Matthew (6-5-09) and happily married to my best friend and love of my life since 10-13-01

Offline yeppers

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Re: yams vs. sweet potatoes
« Reply #9 on: March 25, 2006, 04:44:51 am »
In a food toxicology class I took in college, we had developed a bit of a joke by the end of the semester: when in doubt about a source for a particular toxin or contaminant, answer "green potatoes."   ;)!  Now, they're really not all that bad, and it's not like eating a bit of green potato or two is really going to make much of a difference (another common saying in that class: the dose makes the poison).  But I think a 150 pound man would need to eat something like 3 or 4 completely green potatoes in order to get a toxic level of the bad-guy chemicals that often accompany the green-causing chlorophyll.  (The green color might have been more obvious after the chemicals were concentrated by cooking them and then mixing up the outer portions with the inner portions.  Not really sure, though, just my guess.) 

Regardless, it most likely wouldn't have harmed your baby to have eaten em, but it was probably best that you dumped them anyway.

BTW:  Ditto on the true yams being hard to come by here in the U.S. -- over 100 varieties of yam and we in the Land of the Free can mainly only find sweet potatoes -- go figure!  (Although I did find some Chinese yams at Whole Foods last year -- different but quite yummy!)
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Offline Marisa's Mom

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Re: yams vs. sweet potatoes
« Reply #10 on: May 03, 2006, 22:59:02 pm »
I didn't know that yams were hard to come by in the US. At the supermarket one day, I noticed they were selling sweet potato, yams, and also "beauregard" yams. Both yams looked the same to me, LOL.

I have never run into any green sweet potato or yams. Hope I never do...

Question .... how do you choose sweet potato or yams when you're at the store? They all look beat up and "dirty" to me, lol. And how do you tell if it is ripe?

Another Question  :) ... do you count sweet potato/yam as baby's veggie quota? Or is it a bread group because it's kinda "starchy".

I tend to buy yams, I always think they're more moist than sweet potato. And DD seems to like the yams more than the sweet potatoes.

Marie


Offline RachelC

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Re: yams vs. sweet potatoes
« Reply #11 on: May 03, 2006, 23:33:44 pm »
Super Baby Food book says, basically, sweet potatoes are yams...

Choosing " But them loose so you can get a good look at each one.  Select small to medium sized, thick, chunky, well-shaped sweet potatoes that taper toward the ends.  Skin should be dry, firm, bright, smooth and uniformly colored.... Avoid potatoes with cuts, worm holes or other damage.  Decay, found often in sweet potatoes, can be in the form of shriveled ends or wet, soft, discolored, or sunken area in the skin.  Cutting out a damaged area does no good.  One pbad spot ruins the whole potato and the rest of the potato that still looks good will probably be affected and taste bad."

HTH

~Rachel


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Offline Marisa's Mom

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Re: yams vs. sweet potatoes
« Reply #12 on: May 04, 2006, 05:23:05 am »
Cutting out a damaged area does no good.  One pbad spot ruins the whole potato and the rest of the potato that still looks good will probably be affected and taste bad."

Thanks for the info! Wow, who woulda thunk... it's not like other foods where you can just chop off the bad sections...

Marie


Offline Marisa's Mom

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Re: yams vs. sweet potatoes
« Reply #13 on: May 04, 2006, 05:26:59 am »
I think choose the yam//sweet potato that is smaller, I think these are less starchy and more tasty.

I tend to go for the smaller ones too, but mainly because it fits in my microwave dish.  ;D  Never did a taste test between the huge ones and the small ones.

How much do they sell sweet potato/yams in your neck of the woods? They're normally $1.29 per pound (that would be almost 1/2 Kg for you metric folks  :) ) but the last time I bought them, they were on sale for $0.50 per pound!

Marie


Offline Idahomom

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Re: yams vs. sweet potatoes
« Reply #14 on: May 04, 2006, 16:19:05 pm »
Marisa's mom - I bought some a couple weeks ago for $0.79 a pound, not on sale.  Things are cheaper here, including gas.  Idaho is like 4th lowest in the nation for gas prices.  $2.69/gal the last time I was in town. 

How much do they sell sweet potato/yams in your neck of the woods?
I really do live in the woods!  ;D ;D ;D



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Offline Marisa's Mom

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Re: yams vs. sweet potatoes
« Reply #15 on: May 04, 2006, 16:54:34 pm »
Marisa's mom - I bought some a couple weeks ago for $0.79 a pound, not on sale.  Things are cheaper here, including gas.  Idaho is like 4th lowest in the nation for gas prices.  $2.69/gal the last time I was in town.

I need to shop in Idaho!!! LOL.

As for gas prices.... I took a walk with DD yesterday and passed by a Shell station that sold Super Unleaded for $3.54. The gas prices here are insane, so I started tracking it last week whenever I walked past there:

04/17/06 Mon $3.08, then it change to $3.15 on the walk back
04/18/06 Tues $3.16
04/19/06 Wed $3.21
04/20/06 Thu $3.26
04/25/06 Tue $3.35
04/26/06 Wed $3.43
04/27/06 Thu $3.43
04/28/06 Fri $3.43
05/01/06 Mon $3.43
05/03/06 Wed $3.54

Marie


Offline Colin Macs Mom

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Re: yams vs. sweet potatoes
« Reply #16 on: May 04, 2006, 17:23:42 pm »
Holy Hell where do you live Marisa's Mom? Here, in a Seattle suburb, we are paying I guess around $3.25 or so for regular.
Jessica
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Offline Marisa's Mom

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Re: yams vs. sweet potatoes
« Reply #17 on: May 05, 2006, 03:05:17 am »
Holy Hell where do you live Marisa's Mom? Here, in a Seattle suburb, we are paying I guess around $3.25 or so for regular.

San Francisco Bay Area. And I've seen gas for more at some other local gas stations, you know, depending on where they're located. I hope gas prices don't break $4. It doesn't seem too long ago when we were wondering whether gas prices would reach $3.

I guess we can't complain... I think people in Europe pay a whole lot more than us?

Marie