Learn all you need to know about Jamaican yellow yam below. It is one of my favorite root vegetables that I have enjoyed all my life.
This starchy vegetable is a great alternative to potatoes, like in this Jamaican Yellow Yam Stew recipe.
Brief History Of Yellow Yams
Yams belong to Africa and Asia as they originated from there. They later spread to the Caribbean areas through the slaves. “Yams,” the name comes from the African word “Nyami,” which refers to the act of eating.
There are up to 18 distinct yam varieties in Jamaica, and they all have a novel taste, flavor, and texture. Some yellow yams are dry and starchy, some are sweet and soft, and a few are waxy.
What Is Jamaican Yellow Yam?
Yellow yam, a tropical root veggie, is also alternatively known as “Jamaican Yellow Yam.” Jamaican yellow yam is traditionally consumed with Jamaican meals.
Jamaican yellow yam is a part of the “ground provisions mixture,” usually a pot of different boiled root veggies and flour dumplings.
Yellow yam has often been considered as an under-rated tuber vegetable that undoubtedly deserves to be placed in every individual’s kitchen.
Yellow yams are an essential member of yam’s family, which are perceived as similar to sweet potatoes while being a bit starchier.
Why Should You Consume Jamaican Yellow Yam?
- Jamaican yellow yams are versatile and effortless to cook,
- Yellow Yam is a nutritious veggie to include in your diet in both, sweet and savory dishes.
- Yellow yam nutrition keeps you fit and active.
- Jamaican yellow yams are economical and easy to grow.
- Yellow yams are an excellent source of energy.
- Jamaican yellow yam is boiled easily.
- Yams are added to Jamaican soups to convert them into a more filling meal.
- Jamaican yellow yams are sometimes also consumed with ground provision mixtures, stews, and curries.
The numerous benefits of yellow yams are mentioned later in this article. Scroll below to find out!
Did You Know?
Copper is an essential nutrient required for the healthy production of red blood cells and iron absorption in your body. Instead of consuming copper through various multi-vitamin supplementations, you can consume Jamaican yellow yam!
Yellow yams contain copper along with different other minerals and vitamins. This makes yellow yams a quick and economical way to consume vital nutrients that cannot be consumed through our regular diets.
How To Boil Yams?
Yellow Yams are undoubtedly easy to cook. Boiled yams can be served as a side dish with a variety of your favorite dishes. Here we have presented a step by step guide for you to achieve the perfect form of boiled yams:
- Use a knife to peel the skin of the yellow yam.
- Cut the yam into medium-sized sections.
- Boil water in a container.
- Once the water in the container boils, add the medium-sized pieces of the yellow yam.
- To season the Jamaican yellow yams, add nearly a teaspoon of salt in the container.
- Cook the pieces of Jamaican yellow yam for approximately thirty minutes on medium-high heat.
- Once boiled, remove the boiled yams from the container of boiling water. Serve the boiled yams hot, along with your favorite dish.
Yellow Yam Nutrition Content
- Carbohydrates: 95g
- Iron: 24mg
- Protein: 5g
- Fat: 1g
- Sugar: 2g
- Vitamin C: 97mg
- Calcium: 97mg
- Sodium: 31mg
- Potassium: 2776mg
- Fiber: 14g
Health Benefits Of Yellow Yam
Are you facing a balding issue like many others in today’s stressful world? Yellow yams are here to your rescue!
Low levels of iron lead to hair loss. Yellow yams improve the blood flow in your scalp, which boosts hair growth on the scalp.
The presence of iron in Jamaican yellow yams assists red blood cells to transport oxygen and stimulate the circulation of blood within the scalp. Hence, optimum usage of yellow yam will increase your hair growth.
In addition, the antioxidants present in Jamaican yellow yams help maintain a fresh and youthful appearance by blocking aging symptoms such as fine lines, wrinkles, and dark spots.
Historically, Jamaican yellow yams have served as alternative medications for several years. Recent research has investigated the plausible health advantages of yams.
Various medical companies, especially those in China, Japan, and Korea, have also created medicines using yellow yams due to their allantoin composition.
More About Yellow Yam’s Nutrition:
Yellow yams also are an excellent source of vitamin C. This helps to boost your immune system by shielding against several bacterias and infections. It also helps in the speedy recovery of wounds and helps with anti-aging.
Yellow yams also contain vitamin A, which helps sustain robust membranes and skin, increases and strengthens your night vision, promotes strong bone development, and guards against cancers relating to the lungs and mouth.
Besides, yellow yams provide adequate amounts of other nutrients such as potassium, phosphorus, fiber, manganese, calcium, iron, vitamin B6, and pantothenic acid.
Check out these Yellow Yam Fries! Delicious, right?
Jamaican yellow yam’s versatility makes it possible to pair these yams with various dishes and use them in different forms.
For instance, “yellow yam fries” are such a unique way to put off your craving for fries. Besides satisfying our cravings, yellow yam fries will also provide nutritional value and vitality to your body.
If you’re looking for more creative vegetable fry ideas, take a glance at our Jamaican Jerk Butternut Squash Fries, Cajun Plantain Fries, Yuca Fries, Turnip Fries, and Jicama Fries!
More Health Benefits of Yams
The benefits of yellow yams have not ended yet. Scroll below to see different benefits of consuming Jamaican yellow yams:
1. Improvement of Brain Function
Jamaican yellow yams contain a compound called diosgenin, associated with neuron growth and enhanced brain function. These have proved to improve the learning abilities of humans and their memory.
In fact, a study demonstrated that people who consumed yam extract supplementations secured higher marks in a brain function test than the rest.
Besides, Jamaican yellow yams contain potassium, which increases the cognitive functioning of the brain.
2. Helpful in Reducing Menopause Symptoms in Women
Yellow yams are known to build estrone and estradiol levels, which are two important blood hormones in the blood.
Hence, yellow yams can ease the symptoms of menopause, such as hot flashes and nausea, which lead to imbalanced hormones.
This fact is also supported by a study that illustrated that yellow yams helped reduce the symptoms of menopause, such as reduced hot flushes and reduced sweats at night.
This is because yellow yams contain diosgenin, which impacts the patterns of hormones by reducing menopause symptoms.
Yellow yams are an excellent food source to add to your fertility-friendly diet. The presence of antioxidants in Jamaican yellow yams guards against cell destruction.
Hence, yams are highly recommended for shielding your eggs and improving the overall egg health!
3. Possesses Anti-Cancer Properties
Jamaican yellow yams contain numerous antioxidants that help to combat cancer.
In fact, a study on animals was conducted, which determined that if the diet is rich in yams, it will significantly lessen the growth of colon tumors. This is due to the presence of various antioxidants in yellow yams.
4. Benefits of Anti-Inflammatory Properties
As we know, yellow yams are rich in antioxidants; therefore, they also decrease chronic inflammation, reducing the risk of heart diseases, diabetes, and obesity.
Research conducted on rats has demonstrated that consuming yellow yam powder reduced inflammation related to ailments, including colon cancer, acute bowel syndrome, and stomach ulcers.
5. Helps in Reducing Blood Sugar Levels
Consuming Jamaican yellow yams can control your blood sugar levels. A study was carried out on rats who were given yellow yam water extract. The study results showed that yellow yam water extract reduced the blood sugar level of rats.
In a similar study, the researchers gave yellow yam flour to rats, which resulted in a reduced absorption rate of blood sugar level.
These outcomes are associated with the presence of starch and fiber in yams. Starch travels through your stomach unabsorbed and is linked to reduced hunger, improved blood sugar levels, and insulin sensitivity.
6. Helpful in Losing Weight
Yellow yams are famous for reducing your appetite. The roots of yellow yams render a useful fiber known as glucomannan, which aids in losing weight.
The fiber converts into a gel form when consumed and remains in your stomach. This makes you feel fuller for a more extended period of time.
Consequently, your cravings are controlled, and your weight loss journey becomes more manageable and more achievable.
7. Effective in Improving Digestive Health
The presence of starch in yellow yams can mitigate digestive problems, such as ulcerative colitis, constipation, diarrhea, and Crohn’s disease.
Different studies have reported that starch in yams can augment and develop digestive enzymes that help tear down food and boost good bacteria in your stomach.
Besides, the high fiber content in yellow yams retains your appetite and keeps you full for a more extended period of time without the addition of excess pounds.
Yellow Yam Salad
We at Healthier Steps are here to support you in your weight loss journey. Besides yellow yam fries, you can try a wonderful yellow yam salad, which is super easy to prepare and possesses excellent nutritional value.
This Jamaican yellow yam salad is vegan, gluten-free, and dairy-free. It takes almost ten minutes to prepare. It gives the aroma and essence of a creamy yellow yam salad with a blend of vegan mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, and herbs. Its ingredients include:
- Yellow yam, peel and diced
- Vegan mayonnaise
- Sweet pickle relish
- Chopped celery
- Finely chopped red onion
- Celery seed
- Garlic powder
- Dried dill
- Salt
You can change things up and create your innovative yellow yam salad recipe!
What To Eat Jamaican Yellow Yams With?
If you are willing to adopt yellow yams as an essential nutritional element to your meals, click on your preferred dish from the list below, to see how you can simply add yellow yams with your meals:
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Thanks for this informative post! I tried yellow yam for the first time recently, and while it was very tasty in the end, when I cut it up the cut surfaces turned dark (from oxygen, I assume) VERY quickly, so when cooked it was more brown/grey instead of the beautiful yellow in your pictures. Do you have advice about how to avoid that? (I was making your Yellow Yam Stew recipe, which was really great, btw!)
Gillian, I’m so excited you tried it. Unfortunately, some of the yellow yams oxidize quickly, it could be they are older or just not as fresh, so it is possibly just a bad root. Things you could do is make sure the water or liquid you are cooking the yam in is actually boiling before you peel and add your yam. This will reduce air exposure. You can also submerge the slices in cold water. You can squeeze lemon juice on the slices, and add a little oil to the boiling water if you are boiling it in plain water.
Do you freeze yellow yam cooked or raw
I freeze mine uncooked, depending on the dryness of the yam, I’m noticing that you shouldn’t keep it for over 3 months for best results. The texture can change if you do it for longer. I’m still adding them to soups. I’m having great results with green banana, dasheen, coco and cassava as well.
My husband have change his diet from eating rice and cook dumplings daily sugar level 16 danger zone so I decided to do green bananas chocho and yellow yams. I was thinking about the yellow and starch but when I read your findings I will now continue to include yellow yam in our diet
As a child and as an adult it is only yellow yam I eat from the yam family growing in Jamaica.
Excellent research
Hyacinth, I’m so happy you found this article useful. You are doing excellent, personally, I’m doing the same thing, so I’ll be sharing more recipes with these ingredients.
Love this. Give thanks. Now I won’t feel guilty because I eat yellow yam often.
Shilo, I’m so happy you read it. Yes, yellow yam is amazing!
Hello, I have a large yellow yam but I only cook for myself and husband. If I cut off enough for us to eat how can I preserve the rest of the yam? Or should I cook the whole thing and freeze what we don’t eat? Thank you!
Karen, I buy mine in bulk, peel, cut into slices and freeze for about 6 months max. I don’t mind the texture after I defrost it and cook it but some people said the texture changes. I don’t notice the difference.
Thank you for your post on Jamaican yellow yam, I’m learning about it for the First Time. Michelle please try to send us yellow yam in Rwanda we need so much. So many African are affected by Blood sugar problems, even my mother was died because of blood sugar. thank you for your advice
Angelique, I’m so sorry for your loss. Blessings to you.
Dear Michelle Jamaican yellow yam sounds very nutritious, but it’s not easy to find it so try to help us to get it here in Africa especially in Rwanda
Thank you very much for sharing these benefits of the Jamaican yellow yam like:anti-inflammatory properties
2.help in reducing blood sugar level
3.helpful in losing weight
4.effecting in improving healthy thank you dear Michelle for Healthier steps
Boniface, I’m thinking it is in Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana, Ethiopia, and the Gambia because a lot of Jamaicans are in these African countries. Hopefully soon you will be able to grow it in Rwanda.
Quiet an interesting information i didn’t know yellow yam contain all those benefits
I know, it is amazing! You can peel your yellow yam, slice them up and freeze them in freezer-safe container or bags.
Great background info thanks! 👩🏽🍳
Thank you Crystal.
This is very informative, I love yellow yam, was surprised to learn of all the benefits.
Thank you for sharing.
You are welcome Natalie!
This is so informative, I’m definitely going to eat more yellow yam. Thank you for sharing!
I’m happy it was helpful.
Great information. Why are is it so expensive?
Elisa, thank you. it is a supply-demand issue I believe. White yam is more common so it is cheaper. There are way more varieties of white yam. $1.69 per pound here, not bad at all for imported yams.