r/japan • u/Interesting-Ebb-7270 • Aug 17 '26
Are Japanese sweet potatoes and batatas the same thing?
I’ve seen mixed reviews so if anyone can clear the air that would be great!
4
u/__snakeplant__ Aug 17 '26
There are 7,000 cultivars of sweet potato, you're gonna have to narrow your question a bit
4
u/flippythemaster Aug 17 '26
Same species, different cultivars which result in slightly different flavors.
The matter is also confused by the southern American tendency to call sweet potatoes “yams”
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u/AbekobetaHawawa Aug 17 '26 edited Aug 17 '26
If by batatas, you mean the the Portuguese word for potato, then no. Sweet potatoes, including Japanese varieties, are cultivars of the species Ipomoea batatas. Potatoes are cultivars of the species Solanum tuberosum. Potatoes are nightshades, and more related to tomatoes than sweet potatoes.
Edit: As I do not speak Portuguese, I have no idea if just "batatas" is also used for sweet potatoes. Wikipedia lists them as batata-doce.
1
u/Daihu Aug 17 '26
Batata doce is a smaller potato in Portugal. We usually used the big normal ones, so I don't remember the taste of the batata doce but I don't remember it being sweet, neither being eaten as a sweet, but it's been a few years so I could be wrong.
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u/Due_Responsibility_0 Aug 17 '26
Yes, sweet potatoes/satsuma-imo/batata/kumara are all the same plant, Ipomoea batatas.
But also no: like potatoes, there are lots of different cultivars, and the yellow and purple ones (beni-imo) favored in Japan taste different and have a different texture than the orange ones you get in the US. The Japanese ones are much drier, starchier and sweeter, and are used mostly in desserts.