Varieties

With so many species in the genus Dioscorea, it is no surprise that yams come in many shapes, sizes, colors, and textures, with diverse flavor profiles and cooking characteristics to boot! But, as noted previously, only a few species are commonly cultivated for food. In general—if I dare to generalize—yams are an oblong tuber with rough, sometimes barklike skin and a starchy flesh that is hard and brittle when raw but quite tender, even creamy, when cooked. Although most yams are about the size of a sweet potato, some varieties can weigh as much as 100 pounds/45.5 kilograms and many average roughly 30 pounds/13.5 kilograms. The flesh can range from creamy white to orange to reddish orange and even to purple. (See the discussion on sweet potato varieties to untangle the confusion over the use of the term yam for various types of sweet potato.)