Mountain Yam

APPEARANCE: Mountain yam looks like the hitting end of a baseball bat: it has a cream-colored skin, punctuated by small brown dots, from which hair-like roots emerge. The center of the root is white but, in groceries, the cut ends are often coated with brown flakes—to keep them dry.

QUALITY: The skin should be clear, cream-colored throughout, indicating freshness. As it ages the skin tends to darken; pinkish or yellowish spots anywhere on the skin or cut surface indicate bacterial decay. Larger roots mean less peeling, but the taste of large and small is more or less the same.