In article ,
someone wrote:

Seems to me there are a) sweet potatoes (brown skin, white flesh) and b)
yams, brown or purple skin, orange flesh). One is called a yam, the other
is a sweet potato. In Canada, the yam is the orange-fleshed one, grown in
the U.S. We don't have the white dry one except in Caribbean food shops.

The term "yam" can be used in a strict sense to refer to Dioscorea
batatas, but (I believe) more often means just "edible root" in the
areas they are grown. In places where they aren't, it can mean
almost anything.

I have no idea if the two forms are varieties or subspecies.

The white-fleshed ones are very dry and starchy, and not terribly tasty.
They're used as a carbohydrate staple in the Caribbean. The orange-fleshed
ones are more watery and tasty and cook up a treat when baked with butter &
brown sugar. More like winter squashes.

On the contrary. The white-fleshed ones are delicious, and much
like huge chestnuts to eat :-) The orange-fleshed ones are slimy
and sickly, like a butternut squash on steroids.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.