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Are sweet potatoes the same as yams? No. . .and yes.
Literally and botanically speaking, the two are not related. Yams are large, starchy, edible tuberous roots that belong to the genus Dioscorea. They grow in tropical and subtropical countries and require eight to ten months of warm weather to mature. Yams can grow two to three feet long and some can weigh as much as 80 pounds. According to horticulturist U. P. Hedrick, the word yam means "to eat" in the dialect of Guinea. In the United States today it is possible to find true yams in some urban Hispanic markets.
Both the yam and the sweet potato grow underground and have yellowish-orange flesh, but there the similarity ends. Yet the two became entwined in this country by household vernacular in part through the work of a publicity campaign. Earlier this century, sweet potato promoters attached the word yam to the deep orange, moist-fleshed varieties of sweet potatoes and left the words sweet potato to the smaller, yellowish, and drier-fleshed varieties. The two types of sweet potato are interchangeable in cooking, but bring different tastes, textures, and colors to your plate. Centennial and Puerto Rico are two popular moist-fleshed (formerly called yam) varieties; Nemagold, New Jersey Orange, and Nugget have the lighter and drier (sweet potato) flesh.
Today it is common to find either or both words used in supermarkets, although sweet potato promoters wish we would all stop saying yam. The North Carolina SweetPotato Commission currently urges the world to spell "sweetpotato" as one word. But it's an uphill battle. If your Mama called them yams, for certain you will, too.
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I planted sweetpotato vines
I planted sweetpotato vines this past summer and was surprized to fine HUGE potatoes at the end of the vines upon our first frost here in Asheville, NC. I tried one out in the oven and it was to funky to eat. I did not fertilize the vine at all and the soil is semi-soft. Are these edible? If so, what type of fertilizer is best other than compost? I did some composing from time to time in the area.