The different families of potatoes and sweet potatoes…

Naturally, on Yam Nutrition, you will only find sweet potato, a vegetable chosen for its exceptional taste and nutritional qualities, as much as for the ease with which we can imagine dozens of delicious recipes . However, we must also distinguish the sweet potato Potatoes are actually two completely different vegetables. For these vegetables, we talk about tuberous roots, but they are very different from each other. However, many of you confuse these two varieties of vegetables because the term "potato" for potato is a misnomer. But with this article, we will give you enough information so that you can distinguish them without any possible errors. Potatoes and potatoes are not the same vegetables!

First of all, here is the potato, a precious vegetable for all French people, or almost...

Indeed, just as there are countless varieties of Sweet potatoes , potato varieties are very numerous. Some claim there are more than 3,000, others rely on the figure of 10,000. However, 1,294 varieties of potatoes (in Latin Solanum tuberosum ) are registered in the European agricultural catalogue, 192 are registered in the official French catalogue. Modern potato varieties or cultivars are partly descended from tubers that were introduced into Europe at the end of the sixteenth century. These are cultivars Solanum tuberosum tuberosum . The other part of the cultivars that come from South America belong to the subfamily Solanum tuberosum andigenum . These cultivars are hardly ever grown outside of South America.

Cultivars, or varieties of potatoes, are particularly numerous

There are more than 5,000 modern potato cultivars listed. Depending on their characteristics, some are called starchy (to extract the starch) or fodder (intended for animal feed) or for everyday consumption (fresh, frozen, canned, etc.). The latter can vary depending on their starch content (a form of complex carbohydrate) and dry matter. These differences allow them to be differentiated into three categories: firm-fleshed potatoes, table potatoes, and floury potatoes, which contain a greater quantity of starch. However, the potato is very clearly different from the sweet potato because they are not the same vegetable.

Sweet potatoes have marked differences from potatoes

With tuberous roots in common, sweet potatoes and potatoes come from different plant families. Curiously, the sweet potato is called a yam in the USA, even though it has no relation to this vegetable. Similarly, French speakers often speak of potatoes to designate potatoes. Thus, white potatoes belong to the large family of Solanaceae (also called nightshades). Sweet potatoes are one of the Convolvulaceae of the order of Solanales . Both come from South and Central America, but they are quite distinct. Their colors also differ. The flesh of sweet potatoes is more variable than that of its distant cousin. Indeed, there are sweet potatoes with orange, yellow, red, or purple flesh. Potatoes tend to have yellow or white flesh.

Different varieties of sweet potatoes are enjoying some success in France, Spain and elsewhere in Europe.

Currently, and for several years now, sweet potatoes have become increasingly popular in France and Europe. In fact, the sweet potato is a vegetable that has become very trendy… Its sweet taste and its less common appearance than the potato contribute to its success, year after year. Also cultivated in France and Europe, particularly in Spain, three varieties are mainly grown and sold in France. These are the Bonita , from the Murasaki and Evangeline but other varieties are also cultivated in our country. Bonita has white flesh, the Evangeline (or Evangelina) has orange flesh while the Murasaki has white flesh with a pleasant hint of hazelnut and chestnut.

Enjoy your food !

The number of sweet potato cultivars grown is almost innumerable

Other cultivars are also grown in other European countries, such as Portugal. There we find the variety Read with yellow flesh and red skin; the Beauregard of orange flesh and light pink skin but also the Centennial with dark orange flesh and orange skin. Other cultivars such as the Hernandez , the Jewel or the Nancy Hail are also grown in Europe. In the United States, sweet potatoes orange-fleshed varieties are the most common. These are the varieties Covington , Beauregard And Orleans . Naturally, there are other varieties, although we cannot list them all. Generally speaking, it is a vegetable that has a high nutritional quality . It provides many minerals, essential trace elements such as potassium , copper, manganese and vitamins.