- Forum >
- Topic: Italian >
- "La nostra marmellata è dolce…
41 Comments
229
One beneficial side effect of Duo is learning about other places and customs in the world. Some didn't know that tea was drunk from small glasses in some countries. Where I come from marmalade is a term strictly for citrus fruits.
yes, I've also known that it is 'orange marmalade' and jam is of some other fruits like strawberry or pineapple
And in Washington state (U.S.) we have: jelly, jam, preserves (has some pieces of fruit), fruit spreads (almost entirely fruit), & marmalades.
Maybe Italian doesn't distinguish between the various sweet gels that are spread on toast (or PB&J sandwiches)?
You're right. Jam is Not Jelly Jelly is only fruit juice heavily sweetened with a lot of gelatin. Cringe
- 589
I doubled the t instead of the l in marmellata and I agree that losing a heart over a minor typo seems extreme.
Lol. I feel the same way. It's amazing how attached we get to those "hearts"! :)
Hearts were something used in the earlier days on Duo. The hearts were replaced with crowns and XP. No one seems to lose anything now.
My dictionary says jelly is gelatina, NOT marmelatta. Gelatina di frutta would be fruit jelly. It is harsh to take away a heart for not checking "our jelly is sweet"!
I believe there is some confusion on the English side here. American English and British English don't use the terms jelly and jam the same. If I understand correctly, gelatina is gelatin (or Jello) to Americans and jelly to Brits. In the US jelly is jam without any visible fruit bits. When Americans point out jam, Brits usually call it preserves.
At least, that's what I've worked out after a humorous conversation in Ireland at breakfast.
- 547
British (specifically English) here. I don't think I'd call anything 'preserves' as such. We have jam - fruit and sugar boiled together until it sets then put in jars to be spread on toast/put in cakes at a later date. Marmalade - same as jam but with orange or lemon (usually). Chutney - fruits and veg preserved with vinegar to eat with cheese or cold meats. They are all generically 'preserves', but I would always call them by the specific name not the generic.
Jelly is usually what is called Jello in the US, though jelly can also be jam which has been strained to remove all the bits/seeds so that it is clear.
Hmmm...I must have misunderstood my Irish acquaintance. We went through all of the terms back and forth and I tried to keep them all straight. The funnier conversation was over deer, elk, moose, and reindeer. He had some strange ideas as to how Americans view animals :).
- 547
As I said I'm English, it may well be different in Ireland. Heck, it may well be different 50 miles down the road from where I was brought up in England. I'd understand what someone meant if they talked about 'preserves', although to me it could mean any of a range of things, sweet or savoury so I'd need more context or for it to be more closely specified.
In the US, "jelly" is fruit juice that has been gelled with sugar and added pectin. Jam has both the juice and the macerated fruit mixed with sugar to form a gel. Preserves are generally the whole fruit in gel. Marmalade is generally citrus, as noted above.
So, we have grape jelly, grape jam, and grape preserves.
I don't know about other countries, but in America (though there's technically a distinction between the two) the words "jam" and "jelly" are often used interchangeably.
As I'm sure you've noticed, this course uses American English. Sometimes the differences between the dialects leads to answers being marked as incorrect.
- 547
Sometimes - 'onion jam' which is onions cooked slowly with other things to make an accompaniment to savoury foods. Although I've more often heard it referred to as 'onion marmalade'. But if you call something 'jam' (meaning food not heavy traffic), I'd expect something sweet made with fruit.
- 594
We say 'il nostro' when the thing that is ours is a masculine noun, and 'la nostra' when it is a feminine noun. We also say 'i nostri' and 'le nostre' for the plural versions of these.
Another issue on content. The generic term is jam/marmalade. Jelly is an American term which has a very different meaning to the rest of the world. Way too many Americanisms in this app.
la nostra marmellata dolce porta tutti i ragazzi al cantiere e dicono frequantemente è migliore della tua ;p ;p ;p
If you forgot to say the article and just said "nostra marmellata", would you be looked down upon too heavily? I'm just thinking about those times where I'm trying to answer someone and forget these little idosycracies.
- 594
You wouldn't be looked down upon, and you would be understood - but they would know you were foreign! It's like when someone misses the article in English - for example, "please go through door and sit on chair" - we understand them but they are definitely not fluent!
So marmellata gives the direction of the words used before (feminin)? If i had a maskulin substantive it'll look like this: i nostro cavalli è dolce? :s
Il nostro cavallo è bello I nostri cavalli sono belli You need to pay attention to the predicates that get paired with subjects ( also articles and possessive adjectives). Il nostro goes with singular masculine nouns, and i nostri goes with plural masculine nouns. I hope this helps a little.
In Sweden jam contains more sugar and is less like jello in the consistency. You use it with waffles, pancakes and stuff like this. It's a dessert thing. Marmalade has less sugar and more fruit and is more firm in the consistency. It's only used to be put on bread. So, if you need to use context to find out which is referred to, in the morning we use marmalade, but can also be eaten in the evening with bread and tea. If it comes with an antipasto it will be marmalade and not jam. Otherwise, it's in all likelihood jam that is being referred to.
