Sweet Potatoes vs. Yams.....Do you know the difference?

     Now, most of the people that I know, refer to the common sweet potato as a yam.  The issue is, they're all incorrect.  First and foremost, just to get it out of the way, a true Yam is indigenous to Africa, South America, and the Pacific and they're larger than a football in most cases.  They typically grow to 100 lbs and heavier.  Just a little fact to get out of the way and now we can dive a little more into the distinction between the two.
     The pictures below are what most people will find in your local grocery store or farmers markets.  These are sweet potatoes.  There are a number of varieties of sweet potatoes with varying colors of flesh such as red, orange, purple, pink, yellow, or white.  In most cases, the color of the flesh will tell you the level of sweetness and starch that you will experience while eating them.  For instance, the typical orange color that we are all familiar with doesn't start out that sweet, it's while you cook the potato that the sweetness develops that we all enjoy so much.

     The two pictures below are two examples of yams.  As mentioned before, which you can't see too well in this setting, they are much bigger than the average sweet potato that's pictured above.  You wouldn't think by looking at the picture on the left that it weighed over 100 pounds. 
     There are several theories as to why Americans call the Sweet Potato a Yam.  Some believe that it started when slaves were brought here from Africa.  Since Yams were common in Northern Africa, that's what they were used to calling them so the term stuck.  Another theory is that Americans didn't know the difference so the term became confused and that's why both names are used.  After doing some research on my own, I found that both theories were incorrect. 
      In the 1930's, there was a marketing campaign that came out labeling all sweet potatoes, yams.  Now, because of this taking hold of the mainstream, the Department of Agriculture has required that all sweet potatoes to be labeled as yams and vice versa.  This is something that I'm not too fond of.  It doesn't make me angry and want to protest the government, I just want to inform where I can.

     
     

    





     The main reason for this post isn't to insult anyone, just to educate those businesses that are marketing their product incorrectly.  I see far too often that grocery stores label their product as a yam when it is clearly not a yam.  Since starting my career in food, I've made it a goal of mine to learn everything that I possibly can about the profession that I chose.  This is exactly why I started this blog, to further my education in the world of food and to pass along the information whenever I can.

Farm-to-Table Dinner

     I have never been a part of a Farm-to-Table dinner before so when I was asked to run this, I jumped on the opportunity.  As I've discussed before, the use of locally sourced ingredients is on the rise.  A lot of chefs are using this as a marketing technique picking up on what people are consumed with right now.  That's how you survive in the food business, creating menus based off of what sells.  Regardless of their motives, they're still supporting our local farmers and ranchers.
     My inspiration for this style of menu comes from walking through farmers markets or pulling up the websites of local farms to see what's offered.  For example, I went to a farmer's market recently and the options were: beets, greens, squash, mushrooms, herbs, pumpkins, etc. etc.  There were a few other options but not as prominent as what I listed.  This is an excellent start to a menu.
     Now, the trick is to not look at cookbooks, magazines, or the Internet.  Understand the flavors of what you have in front of you and think about what you would like to eat.  The dinner that we're creating has four courses.  The process in creating this menu is a little painstaking since everything that goes onto those plates is supposed to be a reflection of us as chef's. 
     The first step is to decide on a particular style of cuisine.  As is typical for the menus that I've created in the past, I focus primarily on the ingredients themselves, not on a particular style.  That can take on a wide spectrum of ideas in that ingredients from all over the world may be used, as long as it makes sense on the plate and the evolution of the meal. 
     I'm going to post several entries going over the evolution of our farm-to-table themed dinner.  Everything that I'm going to use must come from the local farms and ranches, except for items such as salt, pepper, and oil.  Stick with me and I'll do my best to keep updating about this meal.