A Field Guide to Sweet Potato Types (and the Dirt on Yams) - Serious Eats A certain family member of mine insists that only the tuberous root veggies with cream-colored flesh are real sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes varieties have white flesh or orange flesh, and, there are even some varieties with purple flesh. Yams and sweet potatoes may look similar when it comes to shape, skin color, and flesh color. Their skin can be shades of dark red, purple, or dark brown. The Yukon Gold potato is one of the most popular potato varieties because it falls into the all-purpose category. Still, it is a worthy I. batata variety that cooks, bakes, fries, mashes, and pies well. .css-1n3gisz{color:#12837c;display:block;font-family:Mogan,Mogan-fallback,Georgia,Times,Serif;font-weight:normal;margin-bottom:0.625rem;margin-top:0;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-1n3gisz:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-1n3gisz{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.1;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-1n3gisz{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.1;}}@media(min-width: 48rem){.css-1n3gisz{font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.1;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-1n3gisz{font-size:2.00879rem;line-height:1.1;}}This $12 Tool Makes Taco Tuesday So Much Easier, 12 Different Types of Tomatoes to Try This Season, How to Know If a Watermelon Is Ripe and Sweet, Different Types of Hot Peppers, Explained, Here's How to Tell if a Pineapple Is Ripe, How to Freeze Summer Squash and Enjoy It Longer. Friends, my dear family member is wrong. The O'Henry sweet potato is incredibly versatile. Fun fact: Its named for the old English word for summer. This is one fascinating potato, if you ask me. Covingtons have a distinct rose-colored skin that is often speckled with small spots and super sweet firm, dense bright orange flesh that stays vibrant when cooked. My mouth is watering just thinking about roasting a Murasaki with a bounty of other veggies. Garnet sweet potatoes aren't necessarily sweet, but they're full of nutrients. Carried from Central and South America by Spanish colonists to China and the Philippines in the 15th century, by the 1600s, purple sweet potatoes made their way to Japan and were initially planted in Okinawa Prefecture. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. Sweet potatoes have now been domesticated in many countries around the world that have a hot and humid climate. The dry texture of the potato's interior causes it to crumble and break down easily, which makes it ideal for making mashed potatoes or using as a baked potato. Each variety has been cultivated over time to enhance characteristics like size, texture, and skin type. To help you choose the right potato for your menu, we've made a list of the most popular potato varieties and their uses. Read on for a list of 16 different types of potatoes. Hannah's sweet potatoes are medium to large in size and round to rectangular and cylindrical in size. Sweet potatoes can have a low, medium, or high glycemic index depending on how they're cooked and prepared. Centennial matures in 100 to 110 days, so its an early variety suited to northern climates, and the tubers store well. If you love the flavor of orange sweet potatoes but dont love how mushy they get after cooking, try Bayou Belle. This belle-of-the-garden has purplish-red skin and orange flesh, and its super sugary. Sweet potatoes are a popular vegetable in North America where they are also called yams. You can recognize a garnet sweet potato thanks to its dark orange-red skin, which conceals bright orange flesh. Russet potatoes are highly recognizable for their ruddy, dark brown skin and large size. Peeling off the skin reveals creamy white-colored flesh that has a mildly sweet flavor. Fun fact: Potatoes and sweet potatoes contain more potassium than a banana. The reason Beauregards are so popular is due to their very sweet taste and vibrant orange color. It may surprise you to learn that the tubers many refer to as yams are actually varieties of sweet potato. So, sweet potatoes are a completely different type of vegetable from potatoes. So in case you've ever been tempted, take care not to substitute a sweet potato for an Idaho willy nilly; in some cases it may work (you can mash cooked sweet potatoes easily), in others it won't (good luck frying them to the same crispy crunch). These potatoes are often combined with red and white varieties to make a red, white, and blue potato salad. Let this not-at-all-exhaustive guide act as a doorway into the vast and incredible world of Ipomoea batatas (that's science for "sweet potatoes"). In its raw state, the potato flesh has a faint white marbling effect. Eating purple sweet potatoes is also extremely good for you. Ube purple yams are a staple food in Asian countries and their sweet nutty taste goes well with desserts. Hernandez sweet potatoes have red skin, an oval to oblong shape that tapers at one end, and moist orange flesh. If you see pictures of yams and sweet potatoes together, it may be hard to tell them apart. The creamy-white flesh of this heirloom is super-sweet, dry, and fluffy when cooked. What Are White Sweet Potatoes And Why Aren't They Orange? - Kitchn Also, sweet potatoes are native to the Americas, whereas yams come from Asia and Africa. This variety probably doesnt have the same disease and pest-resistance qualities as newer cultivars, but its a tasty staple in the sweet potato world. True yams are tuberous roots in the genus Dioscorea belonging to the family Dioscoreaceae. There have been entire years during which I've religiously baked two sweet potatoes every night, eating one piping-hot from the oven, and putting the other in the fridge overnight. Its no surprise that leafy greens are an important part of a well-balanced diet. Vardaman is susceptible to root-knot nematodes and soil insects, but it is resistant to fusarium wilt. Shop All Vegetables Use the following links to navigate and learn more about each type of leafy green: Kale Arugula Bok Choy Spinach Collard Greens Cabbage Romaine Lettuce Watercress Sorrel Swiss Chard Endive Escarole Microgreens Mustard Greens Turnip Greens Beet Greens Radish Greens Broccoli Rabe Kohlrabi Greens Dandelion Greens Printable Infographic Ty, Fresh cut fries are a big moneymaker for anyone in the foodservice industry. Like its distant relative, the potato (Solanum tuberosum),I. batatas are rich in nutrients. While most sweet potato varieties are delicious and incredibly versatile, knowing what type you're dealing with can help you choose a cooking method and sweet potato recipe that may be better suited for that spud. Since they hold their shape pretty well, you could try cooking them on the grill like these Poblano-Potato Bundles. Share your questions and stories in the comments below. The flesh of these tubers is very smooth and baked Porto Rican sweet potatoes make a tasty buttery mash. A great all-purpose potato with a buttery flavor, you can use a German Butterball potato for almost any application. This early variety is susceptible to soft rot and cracking. The russet potato is arguably the most most well-known type of potatoes in the United States. Garnet sweet potatoes are a popular variety due to their mildly sweet taste and moist texture. They are your grocery store potatoes, she says. Even more fascinating, I. batatas are part of the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae, while true yams belong to the Dioscoreaceae family. Color: Purplish-red skins, deep orange flesh.Flavor: Sweet.Texture: Slightly stringy, juicy when cooked.Best uses: Mashing and in baked goods and desserts (candied yams, biscuits). Now grown throughout the world, Ipomoea Batatas has almost 7000 known varieties. Heart OGold (or Heartogold) makes an excellent fry or chip, and it lends itself well to baking, mashing, and roasting, too. The exterior absorbs oil and becomes deliciously crispy, while the interior remains fluffy. Did you know that Vardaman, Mississippi, is the Sweet Potato Capital of the World? This variety of sweet potato was developed using Beauregards and has a distinct oblong shape and tapered ends. Popular among gardeners and cooks alike, Garnet was one of the first yam-like varieties with orange flesh introduced to the US market, and it was often mislabeled as such at grocery stores in the mid-20th century. you kinda are. The dense flesh holds up well during cooking and its sweet orange flesh makes delicious sweet potato wedges. Types of Sweet Potatoes: Japanese, Hannah, Jersey and More - Leafy Place Sweet potato skins can be in a range of colors such as pink, red, orange, creamy white, copper, and light tan. Hannah sweet potatoes are a type of root vegetable classified as Ipomoea batatas. Hannah Sweet Potato. Beauregards have purplish-red skin and a deep orange interior. The Red Bliss potato is a waxy potato, which means it has a high moisture content and keeps its shape while cooking. It has a sweet, nutty flavor similar to a roasted chestnut and a dense texture that's compared to thick pudding. Garnet is ready for harvest 110 days after planting. Hannah With a smooth, tan-colored skin and ivory flesh, as it cooks, the color gets more golden. Its another bush variety, making it perfect for gardeners with limited space. Now we have all kinds of different types, sometimes some are called yams, other. These potatoes not only hold their shape well after roasting, but they're great for when you want a colorful side dish for dinner. Try using some to make Ree's Best Breakfast Potatoes. You can purchase sets of 12 or 25 bare roots, aka slips, from Burpee. Real yams are native to Asia and Africa, and have scaly brown skin surrounding very starchy white flesh. It tastes lovely when grated on a salad or sliced into fries. With light, pinkish-tan skin and cream-colored flesh, Hannah pleases the palate with her dry, flaky, dense texture and subtle sweetness. Instructions. Keep in mind that because these sweet potatoes are quite dense, they shouldn't be substituted in recipes that call for orange sweet potatoes, as the baking times and moisture levels won't line up. They have a brownish outer layer and white flesh on the inside. The Red Thumb potato is a fingerling potato with red skin and creamy pink flesh. Don't be confused by the name of this sweet potato. Dry flesh also soaks up liquids like a sponge, so any dairy or butter that's added to the potato will absorb quickly and evenly. Henry Wayne Bailey of Cane Creek Farms in Vardaman, Mississippi, discovered it and OHenry went out to commercial markets in the 1990s. Which ones make you the most eager to get started? The moist orange flesh is perfect for baking and using in desserts. What Is The Name Of The White Sweet Potato? - Sweetish Hill The popular Hannah batata (sweet potato) has light tan skin and yellow flesh. Over the course of my years of near-religious sweet potato consumption, I've bought pretty much every shape and shade of sweet potato on grocery store shelves. While white potatoes are higher in potassium, sweet potatoes provide. With hundreds of thousands of products available and millions of orders shipped, we have everything your business needs to function at its best. It features beautiful dark-purple skin and pale yellow flesh than darkens as it cooks. Purple sweet potatoes are high in nutrients that have been linked to disease prevention. Uses for Yams vs. Sweet Potatoes . Garnets are oblong tubers that have dark-orange to red skin with deep orange-colored flesh. Hannah sweet potatoes pair well with pumpkin, leeks, kale, bell pepper, mushrooms, ginger, garlic, onions, chives, shallots, tomatoes, meats such as poultry, ham, pork, bacon, and prosciutto, nuts such as pecans, peanuts, chestnuts, and pistachios, and herbs such as basil, cilantro, dill, sage, and tarragon. No, yams and sweet potatoes are not the same. Developed by you guessed it the Louisiana State University AgCenter in 1992, this mid-season cultivar is ready for harvest in 125 days. That's thanks to early 20th-century Southern farmers, who began using "yam" to refer to the newer, orange-fleshed varieties of sweet potatoes they were cultivating, as a way to differentiate their product from the white-fleshed sweet potatoes Americans were already familiar with. Are you ready to meet 21 delicious varieties to grow at home? This sweet tuber has tan-colored skin and mildly sweet yellow-orange flesh. This is the most common sweet potato variety in American grocery stores, and the one you'll find at pretty much every market. Even though they are classified as all-purpose, Adirondack Blue potatoes tend to be waxy and hold their shape when boiled or roasted. When cooked, Hannah sweet potatoes have a light yellow color. With moderate pest and disease resistance, Korean Purple matures in about 120 to 135 days and makes a tasty, colorful sweet potato fry. One type of sweet potato popular in the southern states in the U.S. is the White Delight variety. Starchy potatoes are high in starch but lower in moisture, which gives them a more crumbly texturethey're ideal for baked potatoes with toppings. OHenry has similar pest and disease resistance qualities as its parent plant, Beauregard. It is resistant to streptomyces soil rot and fusarium wilt, but susceptible to root-knot nematodes. The vines feature distinct, seven-lobed leaves. Related article: Ultimate Guide to Different Kinds of Potatoes, Green Fruits With Their Name and Picture (Identification), Types of Vegetables: Different Kinds of Vegetables With Their Picture and Name, Different Types of Grapefruit From Around the World (With Pictures and Names), Red Fruits with Pictures and Names - Identification Guide, Types of Sweet Potatoes: Japanese, Hannah, Jersey and More, Ultimate Guide to Different Kinds of Potatoes. True to its name, Burgundy features pretty red skin and deep orange flesh thats so sweet you wont need to add any sugar even if youre baking a pie! Sweet Potato Glycemic Index: Boiled, Roasted, Baked, and Fried - Healthline Find out which kinds are best for mashing, roasting and more. Looking at pictures of the Jersey sweet potato you can see that it is similar in color to regular potatoes. 21 of the Best Sweet Potato Varieties for Your Garden - Gardener's Path Sweet Potato vs Yam: Are They The Same Thing? - WebstaurantStore Sweet Potato vs. Potato: What's the Difference? - Healthline The Jewel variety is likely what you are used to seeing and eating when you think of a classic sweet potato. Amazing, right? Have a higher sugar content, lower carbs and calories. He's a contributor to the Washington Post, New York Magazine, Vice, and more. When cooked, it becomes silky smooth and creamy or fluffy. Whatever your taste, trying different kinds of sweet potatoes can be a delicious culinary experience. Russets are also great for mashing, as long as the skins are peeled first. Color: Light brown skins, white flesh.Flavor: Sweet.Texture: Dense, firm, creamy.Best uses: Roasting, mashing. Due to its dense flesh and low moisture content, it is best to bake these types of purple potatoes at a low temperature and longer than orange or white sweet potatoes. It is resistant to wireworms and guava root-knot nematodes as well as bacterial root rot and wilt, but may be susceptible to other diseases. The edible part of sweet potatoes is their large tubers with an oblong or oval shape that tapers to a point. Here in the US, we classify potatoes as one of these seven types: Hannah sweet potatoes have semi-smooth tan skin with shallow eyes, cream-colored flesh and a cylindrical, oblong shape with rounded tapered ends. Ipomoea batatas is the botanical name for all varieties of sweet potato. However, there are hundreds of different types of sweet potatoes. The magazine published an issue exclusively dedicated to sweet potatoes.