Blogging from A to Z Challenge: Yams vs Sweet Potatoes

Hello and welcome to the Focused on Story Blog by J.Q. Rose. Are you a word lover? Then you're at the right place. All this month I'll be revealing words that fascinate me during the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. 

~yam~

: the edible starchy tuberous root of various plants (genus Dioscorea of the family Dioscoreaceae) used as a staple food in tropical areas; also : a plant producing yams

a moist usually orange-fleshed sweet potato, Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Yams vs. Sweet Potatoes

Yams are yummy. Sorry, I just had to get those Y’s in there because this IS Y Day. And I’m getting a bit punchy as we near the end of this daily April blogging challenge.

I bet what you think of as a yam is actually a sweet potato. So here’s the “dish” on the difference between a yam and a sweet potato.

According to the North Carolina Sweet Potatoes site (NCSP): “That sweet, orange-colored root vegetable that you love so dearly is actually a sweet potato. Yes, all so-called “yams” are in fact sweet potatoes. Most people think that long, red-skinned sweet potatoes are yams, but they really are just one of many varieties of sweet potatoes.” 

Sweet potatoes
Photo courtesy of pixabay

So why all the confusion? According to NCSP, “A true yam is a starchy edible root of the Dioscorea genus, and is generally imported to America from the Caribbean. It is rough and scaly and very low in beta-carotene.

Depending on the variety, sweet potato flesh can vary from white to orange and even purple. The orange-fleshed variety was introduced to the United States several decades ago. In order to distinguish it from the white variety everyone was accustomed to, producers and shippers chose the English form of the African word “nyami” and labeled them “yams.”

So when you gather round the table for a delicious ham and yam dinner, you can educate your family/friends, they are most probably eating sweet potatoes topped off with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, not yams!

If you’d like more recipes, visit the NCSP site for “52 Ways to Enjoy Sweet Potatoes.”

Do you like sweet potatoes? I really like sweet potato wedges, tossed in Virgin Olive Oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, and baked in the oven at 375 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. Place the wedges on a foil-lined baking sheet for easy clean up. Enjoy!

Click here for the MASTER LIST

of all participants who signed up

for the #AtoZchallenge 2018.

Blogging from A to Z Challenge: Do You Have a Contact Page?

Hello and welcome to the A to Z Blogging Challenge! Letter X came up so quickly. The month has flown by. I hope you have enjoyed all the words I have shared to entertain the Word Nerds. The X word is a brand new word to me. Read more below.

~xenogogy~

A map or guidebook, The Grandiloquent Dictionary – X

About the Grandiloquent Dictionary from its creator, Dr. Christopher Bird: “This is the result of an ongoing project to collect and distribute the most obscure and rare words in the English language. It also contains a few words which do not have equivalent words in English. At present, the dictionary contains approximately 2700 words, though it is constantly growing." 

Dr. Bird is correct about including obscure and rare words in his dictionary. When I googled the word, xenogogy, no dictionary definitions popped up except for this one.

So where did I discover this unusual word?. Morgan at Once Upon a Time blog left a comment on my blog on Day C. So I perused her site finding out she is a gal who loves traveling. On her page including her 39 List (of things she wants to accomplish before she turns 40) I found under # 27 her goal to write a "Xenogogy -- about all my adventures and places we go."  Click here to visit Morgan at Once Upon A Time. 

Thank you, Morgan, for my X Word!!l

One of the best perks of participating in the A to Z Challenge is meeting new bloggers and discovering creative, intelligent, thoughtful folks. I love investigating their blogs.

I would like to nudge bloggers to include a Contact Page so we who visit can drop them a line. Many years ago, I had someone tell me that when I was beginning my blog, and I'm glad she did.

Do you have a Contact Page and/or a Media Page or an About Me page with your bio, links, and a way to contact you e.g. email, Facebook, Twitter, etc? I encourage you to make one now. 

P.S.--If you leave a comment, please leave your link to your blog so I can return the visit. I don't think of it as self-promotion, but rather as being neighborly. And now you know how much I love visiting bloggers. Thank you.

Click here for the MASTER LIST

of all participants who signed up

for the #AtoZchallenge 2018.