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So, I've seen a previous question about brown spots in purple sweet potatoes, but I have baked a potato that actually has a large brown... area. Is this spoilage? I ate a bite from the "top" area, where there is no brown blotch, and it tastes okay... but the "varied" color of the rest makes me nervous.

purple sweet potato with spots

asthasr
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That's a yam, not a sweet potato. Looks like tropical rot. Probably had one or more insects get into it in the monsoon season. Looks like a fungus infection to me. Too wet a soil.

J Bergen
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  • Interesting. I thought yams were "hairy" on the outside -- this one was pale and fairly smooth; I thought I was buying an Okinawan sweet potato. It was labeled "purple yam," but the normal sweet potatoes right next to it were labeled "orange yam" and the Korean sweet potatoes were labeled "Korean yam." So. – asthasr Oct 17 '17 at 12:41
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    Looks like an Okinawan and, being located where you are, it most likely is as they are native to NC. Also, to your references about yams, in the US, the terms yams and sweet potatoes are often used interchangeably. And I've never heard anyone say 'candied sweet potatoes' - only 'candied yams'. – Cindy Oct 17 '17 at 12:50
  • Yam is African. Nigerian word. First written record of them. Sweet potatoes are American. Spanish name. First written record of them. They can be cross bred. A yam is to be over 50% yam. A sweet potato is to be over 50% America type. There are more types of yam than I can count. To me it looks like a Jolo purple yam. Indonesian. Jolo island famed for its purple yam & peanut soup. Called JoLo. – J Bergen Oct 17 '17 at 13:27