# Lemonade, jelly, and biscuits (and other foods people outside of the US have wrong) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 28, 2009, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonade-jelly-and-biscuits-and-other-foods-people-outside-of-the-us-have-wrong/483401 "2009-01-28T17:26:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonade-jelly-and-biscuits-and-other-foods-people-outside-of-the-us-have-wrong/483401/21 "2009-01-28T21:06:00Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Trust me, your Smarties make our U.S. Smarties taste like vomit. Which isn’t that hard, because they pretty much taste like vomit anyway. Here they’re this chalky, “fruit” flavored coin-sized disc of sugar, a true abomination. Hey! I like our chalky, fruity Smarties. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonade-jelly-and-biscuits-and-other-foods-people-outside-of-the-us-have-wrong/483401/22 "2009-01-28T21:10:20Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Trust me, your Smarties make our U.S. Smarties taste like vomit. Which isn’t that hard, because they pretty much taste like vomit anyway. Here they’re this chalky, “fruit” flavored coin-sized disc of sugar, a true abomination. My, what small coins you have? Smarties are much smaller than even a dime. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonade-jelly-and-biscuits-and-other-foods-people-outside-of-the-us-have-wrong/483401/23 "2009-01-28T21:13:52Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And just so there’s no confusion, ranch is a salad dressing made with buttermilk (which may or may not be the same stuff you call “buttermilk”; I’m not certain) as the acidic component, instead of vinegar. It was originally made by one particular company, but you can buy many different brands of it now. [Hidden Valley Ranch](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranch_dressing), a dude ranch in California, was the originator of “Ranch” dressing. They still make it under their own brand name. The wikipedia article doesn’t say, but I imagine that the last 10 years or so has been a crucial time for the brand, since it seems that “Ranch” dressing is on the cusp of losing its unique branding and becoming the next “aspirin”. ---
**Author:** ![dada2fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ccd318/32.png) [@dada2fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dada2fish)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonade-jelly-and-biscuits-and-other-foods-people-outside-of-the-us-have-wrong/483401/24 "2009-01-28T21:14:10Z")
I (an American) used to date a Canadian guy. I live about 15 miles from the US/Canada border, so it wasn’t difficult seeing each other. He invited me over for dinner and was preparing potatoes. He asked me what kind of potatoes I’d like for dinner and we agreed that mashed would be good. When we sat down to eat the potatoes were literally mashed potatoes. Just boiled potatoes mashed down on the plate. Here in the US, our version also contains milk or cream, butter and salt whipped together with a mixer. When I questioned this, he said, what us Americans call mashed potatoes, Canadians call creamed potatoes which technically makes more sense. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonade-jelly-and-biscuits-and-other-foods-people-outside-of-the-us-have-wrong/483401/25 "2009-01-28T21:16:09Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > It’s not the stuff that you refridgerate and it forms a wiggly mass that wobbles around and that you sometimes put pieces of bananas in. That’s Jel-LO. Kraft foods’ lawyers would like to have a word with you. ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonade-jelly-and-biscuits-and-other-foods-people-outside-of-the-us-have-wrong/483401/26 "2009-01-28T21:19:39Z")
> [@wheresgeorge04](#): > > What did they call them? KFC called them biscuits. You’d get one or two (this would be '89 - '90, so I can’t remember exactly) and a pat of butter as a side along with fries, a tub of beans and/or coleslaw with a bucket of chicken. ---
**Author:** ![Dublin11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Dublin11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dublin11)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonade-jelly-and-biscuits-and-other-foods-people-outside-of-the-us-have-wrong/483401/27 "2009-01-28T21:43:34Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > Take lemonade for example. Here (in the US) it’s a drink made with water, sugar and lemons. It’s lemon-flavored. It is not carbonated…it’s sort of like orange juice is to oranges and pineapple juice is to pineapples. Lemonade is to lemons. So why is it not called lemon juice, then? You’ve explained it in such a way that your explanation actually detracts from your own logic for calling it what you do call it. To me, lemon juice comes from lemons, orange juice comes from oranges and pineapple juice comes from pineapples. Lemonade is a fizzy lemon flavoured drink, orangeade is a fizzy orange flavoured drink and pineappleade is a fizzy pineapple flavoured drink. I have learnt from this board that what we call cider, Americans call hard cider. I can’t recall what you call your other, non-alcoholic cider, but we’d call that appleade. Which fits in with the lemonade business, too. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonade-jelly-and-biscuits-and-other-foods-people-outside-of-the-us-have-wrong/483401/28 "2009-01-28T22:14:55Z")
> [@Dublin11](#): > > So why is it not called lemon juice, then? > You’ve explained it in such a way that your explanation actually detracts from your own logic for calling it what you do call it. > > To me, lemon juice comes from lemons, orange juice comes from oranges and pineapple juice comes from pineapples. Lemonade is a fizzy lemon flavoured drink, orangeade is a fizzy orange flavoured drink and pineappleade is a fizzy pineapple flavoured drink. > > I have learnt from this board that what we call cider, Americans call hard cider. I can’t recall what you call your other, non-alcoholic cider, but we’d call that appleade. Which fits in with the lemonade business, too. Because we already have something over here called lemon juice and it’s not anything you drink, believe me. Lemonade is the drink and it’s from lemons mixed with water and sugar. Lemon JUICE is sort of like a condiment here. It’s usually made with alcholic drinks, but not drinkable straight (it’s very, very bitter and would probably induce your gag reflex if you drank it straight–although I don’t know, I’ve never tried. I have tried putting drops of it in my mouth, though, and it’s pretty nasty unless mixed in a drink). Speaking of which…I seem to remember Sprite and 7up being weird over there too. Those are lemon-lime sodas, right? Here they are…but over there aren’t THEY considered/called “lemonade”? Here they’re called soda or pop. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonade-jelly-and-biscuits-and-other-foods-people-outside-of-the-us-have-wrong/483401/29 "2009-01-28T22:18:02Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > Take lemonade for example. Here (in the US) it’s a drink made with water, sugar and lemons. It’s lemon-flavored. It is not carbonated…it’s sort of like orange juice is to oranges and pineapple juice is to pineapples. Lemonade is to lemons. Orange juice and pineapple juice are all juice with no added sugar or water. > [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > It’s jelly. It’s not the stuff that you refridgerate and it forms a wiggly mass that wobbles around and that you sometimes put pieces of bananas in. That’s Jel-LO. The generic term is _gelatin_. Jell-O is a brand name. ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonade-jelly-and-biscuits-and-other-foods-people-outside-of-the-us-have-wrong/483401/30 "2009-01-28T22:20:46Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > Speaking of which…I seem to remember Sprite and 7up being weird over there too. Those are lemon-lime sodas, right? Here they are…but over there aren’t THEY considered/called “lemonade”? > > Here they’re called soda or pop. Pop, soft drink, fizzy drink or fizzy pop would be the main terms for carbonated drinks here. I do use soda sometimes, but that’s 'cos I was married to an American. Anyway, Sprite and 7up are close to our lemonade, but are not called it because of the addition of lime. Were they just lemon then, yeah, they’d be brands of lemonade. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonade-jelly-and-biscuits-and-other-foods-people-outside-of-the-us-have-wrong/483401/31 "2009-01-28T22:25:33Z")
> [@](#): > > Hidden Valley Ranch, a dude ranch in California, was the originator of “Ranch” dressing. They still make it under their own brand name. The wikipedia article doesn’t say, but I imagine that the last 10 years or so has been a crucial time for the brand, since it seems that “Ranch” dressing is on the cusp of losing its unique branding and becoming the next “aspirin”. If they ever had a trademark on “Ranch”, they lost it for lack of defense long ago. I can go to any supermarket in the country, and buy store-brand ranch dressing, plus ranch dressing of several non-Hidden Valley name brands. The Hidden Valley trademark is probably still strong, but nobody calls it “Hidden Valley Ranch” except in commercials. If it’s ever not clear from the context, you can specify “sweet cider” to mean the non-alcoholic stuff. But usually, non-alcoholic cider is just “cider”. And lemon juice is about the _least_ bitter foodstuff you’ll ever encounter. Sour is the exact opposite of bitter. The point remains, though, that it’s not really drinkable straight, hence the added water and sugar. ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonade-jelly-and-biscuits-and-other-foods-people-outside-of-the-us-have-wrong/483401/32 "2009-01-28T22:29:07Z")
> [@dmheat](#): > > I (an American) used to date a Canadian guy. I live about 15 miles from the US/Canada border, so it wasn’t difficult seeing each other. He invited me over for dinner and was preparing potatoes. He asked me what kind of potatoes I’d like for dinner and we agreed that mashed would be good. > When we sat down to eat the potatoes were literally mashed potatoes. Just boiled potatoes mashed down on the plate. Here in the US, our version also contains milk or cream, butter and salt whipped together with a mixer. > When I questioned this, he said, what us Americans call mashed potatoes, Canadians call creamed potatoes which technically makes more sense. My British FIL made those last night–just mased up some potatoes, with no milk or anything. Bland as hell, with no salt even. Waste of a good potato. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonade-jelly-and-biscuits-and-other-foods-people-outside-of-the-us-have-wrong/483401/33 "2009-01-28T22:29:45Z")
> [@GaryM](#): > > Naw, Jelly is made from fruit juice with no fruit at all in in. It’s pretty much transparent. > > Jam is made from a mix of fruit juice and some of the fruit itself. Kind of chunky, depending on the fruit of course. What you describe as jelly rather than jam does exist, less commonly, in Britain, and it’s called…jelly. [Example.](http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/food/273984/Quince-jelly). ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonade-jelly-and-biscuits-and-other-foods-people-outside-of-the-us-have-wrong/483401/34 "2009-01-28T22:29:59Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > Holland: > **Ranch, oreos, gatorade** : all brand names, unknown and unavailable here. > . You have no Cool Ranch Doritos? How Can a country with that much pot have no Cool Ranch Doritos? What a monstrously unfair Cosmic tragedy ☹ ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonade-jelly-and-biscuits-and-other-foods-people-outside-of-the-us-have-wrong/483401/35 "2009-01-28T22:30:57Z")
> [@Orual](#): > > I’m with you on the lemonade and the jelly, but after my trip to the UK, I’m inclined to allow the term ‘biscuit’ to be more broadly applied. Because digestives are yummy, and so are the cheese type I found in a convenience store in Edinburgh, but I didn’t write down the brand, and so shall never have to good fortune to snack upon them again. ☹ Aren’t “digestives” graham crackers? I don’t know, do people consider them a type of cookie (or biscuit) or a type of cracker? They don’t come to mind when I think of cookies. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonade-jelly-and-biscuits-and-other-foods-people-outside-of-the-us-have-wrong/483401/36 "2009-01-28T22:32:06Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > The wikipedia article doesn’t say, but I imagine that the last 10 years or so has been a crucial time for the brand, since it seems that “Ranch” dressing is on the cusp of losing its unique branding and becoming the next “aspirin”. “Hidden Valley Ranch” is a dead trademark for salad dressings as of August 11, 2008, per the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Likewise, the single word “Ranch” for a dressing mix for salads is dead, as is “Ranch Dressing” for salad dressing. ---
**Author:** ![Dublin11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Dublin11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dublin11)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonade-jelly-and-biscuits-and-other-foods-people-outside-of-the-us-have-wrong/483401/37 "2009-01-28T22:33:12Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > Because we already have something over here called lemon juice and it’s not anything you drink, believe me. Lemonade is the drink and it’s from lemons mixed with water and sugar. Lemon JUICE is sort of like a condiment here. It’s usually made with alcholic drinks, but not drinkable straight (it’s very, very bitter and would probably induce your gag reflex if you drank it straight–although I don’t know, I’ve never tried. I have tried putting drops of it in my mouth, though, and it’s pretty nasty unless mixed in a drink). I know what lemon juice is. Lemons and their juice get exported all over the place these days, you know. 😃 Lemon juice is the juice of a lemon. No explanation neccessary on that one. No sirree. The point I was making is that your explanation just didn’t add up. Saying that lemonade is to lemons what orange juice is to oranges and what pineapple juice is to pineapples made no sense to me. Does it really make sense to you? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonade-jelly-and-biscuits-and-other-foods-people-outside-of-the-us-have-wrong/483401/38 "2009-01-28T22:33:46Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Aren’t “digestives” graham crackers? I don’t know, do people consider them a type of cookie (or biscuit) or a type of cracker? They don’t come to mind when I think of cookies. > **[Digestive biscuit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digestive_biscuit)** > > A digestive biscuit, sometimes described as a sweet-meal biscuit, is a semi-sweet biscuit that originated in Scotland. The digestive was first developed in 1839 by two doctors to aid digestion. The term digestive is derived from the belief, around the time the biscuit was first introduced, that they had antacid properties due to the use of sodium bicarbonate as an ingredient. Historically, some producers used diastatic malt extract to "digest" some of the starch that existed in flour prior to ... ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonade-jelly-and-biscuits-and-other-foods-people-outside-of-the-us-have-wrong/483401/39 "2009-01-28T22:34:39Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Gatorade, meanwhile, isn’t what’s usually called an “energy drink” nowadays (those contain caffeine or other stimulants), but a “sports drink”. It’s intended to replace the fluid and electrolytes you lose while sweating, and unless you’re getting a lot of exercise, it tastes terrible. It was invented at the University of Florida to give their football teams (the Gators) a bit of an edge, hence the name. There’s Lucozade isotonic, which is supposedly for sporting types. The ordinary Lucozade seems to be the traditional remedy for those ill from the cold or flu (at least in our familiy). ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonade-jelly-and-biscuits-and-other-foods-people-outside-of-the-us-have-wrong/483401/40 "2009-01-28T22:35:55Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > What you describe as jelly rather than jam does exist, less commonly, in Britain, and it’s called…jelly. [Example.](http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/food/273984/Quince-jelly). Every time I use the term “jelly” to a British person, they assume I mean gelatin. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonade-jelly-and-biscuits-and-other-foods-people-outside-of-the-us-have-wrong/483401.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemonade-jelly-and-biscuits-and-other-foods-people-outside-of-the-us-have-wrong/483401.md?page=3)