Sweet Potatoes and Yams: A Case of Mistaken Identity

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Garlic

Although grocery shoppers in the United States use “sweet potatoes” and “yams” interchangeably, yams are actually unrelated tropical tubers.  They’re paler and more crisp than what we think of as yams/sweet potatoes.  You’ll probably stumble across true yams if you’re in a mercado in Latin America, but if you’re State-side, even the canned “yams” are actually sweet potatoes.

In this case, however, I’ll stick to the Gershwin logic of “You say potay-to, I say potah-to / You say tomay-to, I say tomah-to” because sweet potatoes are delicious no matter what they’re called.  And with the high levels of beta-carotene characteristic of orange-colored fruits and vegetables (our bodies convert beta-carotene to vitamin A), sweet potatoes make for a much better side dish than the standard, old-fashioned mashed potatoes.  For a real treat, though, try roasting them with garlic as I’ve done here.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.  While it’s heating, peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into rounds.  Arrange them in a baking dish that’s big enough to hold them all without crowding, then drizzle them with ghee (clarified butter), coconut oil, or palm oil (unlike unsaturated fats, saturated fats can handle high temperatures without breaking down and oxidizing).  Salt and pepper the rounds and then swirl them in the pan to make sure that all the pieces are covered with oil.

Roast for 15 minutes, stirring the potatoes once during that time to ensure even cooking.  Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine a clove or two of garlic (figure one clove per sweet potato) with another tablespoon or two of ghee/oil.  When the 15 minutes are up, drizzle the garlic oil over the sweet potatoes, moving them around again to distribute the oil equally.  Roast for an additional 10 minutes.  Do not overcook–the garlic will burn and become bitter.

Enjoy!

Tags: starches, sweet potatoes, tubers, yams