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| Courtesy Iowa State University |
Are sweet potatoes and yams the same thing? No, sweet potatoes and yams are different plants.
Sweet potatoes - that are used for baking, fries, and pies come from lpomoea batatas, which is a vining member of the morning glory family. The plants produce edible tuberous roots and are divided into dry or moist types. Depending on the variety, sweet potato flesh can vary from white to orange and even purple. The moist, orange ones are most familiar to Americans.
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| Courtesy North Carolina Naturally Healthy Sweet Potatoes |
Yams - (Dioscorea polystachya) are also vining plants, but they belong to the yam family and their tubers are often much larger (up to 50 pounds) than a sweet potato. Yams are native to Asia and Africa. They are also starchier and more potato-like, usually not very sweet.
Pumpkins – generally little pumpkin is used for canned pumpkin puree. Most canned pumpkin is actually made from winter squashes like butternut. Pumpkin tends to be a general term that describes a round, hard fruit with yellow to orange skin. “The primary squash/pumpkin used for pumpkin puree is a type of Cucurbita moschata which includes butternut squash and Dickinson pumpkin, the most common commercially grown cultivar. While Curcurbita pepo is the species most commonly associated with the name pumpkin (and it is edible), it is not used for canned pumpkin puree because it tends to be more fibrous or stringy.” ~Iowa State University
Cranberries – are grown primarily in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington. They are on a low-growing, cold-hardy, evergreen shrub or ground cover that is native to swamps and bogs. Flooding the cranberry fields is often the way they are harvested because the ripe fruit will float to the top.
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| Cranberry Harvest Courtesy Pixabay |
Pumpkin Spice – you see this ingredient in everything right now – lattes, desserts, and candles for a few items. It is the scent of Fall. But did you know that it does not contain any pumpkin? It is a combination of cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and allspice that make up the pumpkin spice flavor.
When you have your Thanksgiving dinner, give thanks – not only to family and friends and your food – but include the stories and histories associated with some of the side-dishes on your table.
Via Extension Master Gardener - Sources: Iowa State University Extension, North Carolina Naturally Healthy Sweet Potatoes
