Yam

Also known asDioscorea · Chinese Yam · 山药

Name: Yam (genus Dioscorea) — a large, starchy tuber with rough, bark-like brown skin and white, yellow or purple flesh. True yams are different from the orange sweet potatoes sold as “yams” in North America, and common types include white yam, yellow yam and water yam.

Description

Yams are native to Africa and Asia, and have been a staple for thousands of years in West Africa, where they hold deep cultural and ritual importance, and where festivals celebrate the new yam harvest. Nigeria produces by far the majority of the world's yams. Yams are also eaten in the Caribbean, the Pacific, Japan and India.

A yam can reach a metre or more in length, and the starchy flesh is firmer, drier and less sweet than sweet potato. It is cooked by boiling, roasting, frying, or pounding into pounded yam and fufu. Raw yam contains toxins and must always be cooked.

Main nutrition value

Yams provide carbohydrate, fibre, potassium, manganese, vitamin C and vitamin B6, and are mostly starch.

How best to be consumed

Yams must always be cooked, with the skin peeled off.

1. Peel off the rough skin, then boil, roast, steam or fry until tender.
2. Pound into smooth pounded yam to eat with soups and stews, as in West Africa.
3. Fry into chips, or add to stews and curries.
4. Wear gloves, since some varieties irritate the skin.
5. Store in a cool, dry, dark place, and never in the fridge.

Overconsumption could cause…

Yams are safe only when properly cooked.

1. Toxic reactions from raw or undercooked yam, which contains natural toxins such as dioscorine in some wild types.
2. Itching and skin irritation from handling raw yam sap, because of calcium oxalate crystals.
3. Higher carbohydrate and sugar intake than most vegetables, which matters for people managing diabetes.
4. Low protein, so yam should be eaten with other protein foods.

GroupsOther Starchy VegetablesPotatoesRoot VegetablesLow fatLow sodiumRich in potassiumFresh

Related foodsTaroCassava / YucaParsnipSweet PotatoLotus RootArrowroot

Wikipedia — Yam (vegetable), used for origin, naming and history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yam_(vegetable)