Dear Micha: Yams in Cuba & PR are what we call

Dear Micha: Yams in Cuba & PR are what we call ame. It is a white tuber root with a soft somewhat grainy texture. It is usually white in color and it is not sweet. I absolutely love the ame. We boil it and then we process it with cream, garlic, salt & pepper to taste, a little bit of onion & some milk (if necessary) for a cream soup. We also eat it boiled in salty water, with some olive oil over it, to accompany fish, chicken, cod or any salad.

For Bisque soups I usually use cream. For our pumpkin soups we usually use several ingredients including a pinch of nutmeg, cinnamon & in this case if they added ame (remember the ame is not sweet, boiled in salted water), then the soup was not sweet, but with a fine texture & taste, provided by the added cream.