Other Uses of The Term yam
Several other unrelated root vegetables are sometimes referred to as "yams", including:
- In the United States, sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), especially those with orange flesh, are often referred to as "yams." In the United States, firm varieties of sweet potatoes were produced before soft varieties. When soft varieties were first grown commercially, there was a need to differentiate between the two. African slaves had already been calling the soft sweet potatoes "yams" because they resembled the yams in Africa. Thus, soft sweet potatoes were referred to as yams to distinguish them from the firm varieties. While sweet potatoes labeled as "yams" are widely available in supermarkets throughout the United States, markets that serve Asian or Caribbean communities often carry true yams. Today the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires sweet potatoes labeled with the term "yam" to be accompanied by the term "sweet potato."
- Just like commercial yams in the United States, Okinawan purple "yam" is actually a sweet potato.
- In New Zealand "yam" refers to the oca (Oxalis tuberosa),
- The corm of the konjac is often colloquially referred to as a yam, although it is unrelated.
- In Malaysia and Singapore, "yam" is used to refer to taro.
Read more about this topic: Yam (vegetable)
Famous quotes containing the word term:
“A radical is one of whom people say “He goes too far.” A conservative, on the other hand, is one who “doesn’t go far enough.” Then there is the reactionary, “one who doesn’t go at all.” All these terms are more or less objectionable, wherefore we have coined the term “progressive.” I should say that a progressive is one who insists upon recognizing new facts as they present themselves—one who adjusts legislation to these new facts.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)