quote:
but I can't speak for the eccentricities of other nations.
"Eccentricities?" My my. I was speaking of the dictionary definition of "marmalade," including
your own OED. Here's the first citation there:
quote:
Originally: a preserve consisting of a sweet, solid, quince jelly resembling chare de quince (see CHARE n.4) but with the spices replaced by flavourings of rosewater and musk or ambergris, and cut into squares for eating; (in the 17th cent., occas.) a thick, apple-based jelly containing shredded citrus peel (obs.). Subsequently: a conserve made by boiling fruits (now usually oranges and other citrus fruits) in water to release the pectin around the seeds, then reboiling the liquid and fruit with sugar to form a consistent mass, typically containing embedded shreds of rind. Also: a preparation of similar consistency made with other ingredients, such as a sweet preserve of diced ginger in a jelly set with apple pectin, or a relish made by cooking vegetables with sugar and vinegar.
I had reviewed many sites before posting this, and most of them said that "usually" marmalade in the UK is orange. In fact, Jerry's third site says precisely that. Other sites said that it was citrus, which of course isn't only orange.
Before I posted this I had thought marmalade was only orange, too. Yet, when I thought about it, I realized we say "orange marmalade."
My question, though, was not what England or the other eccentric countries now consider marmalade, but how the word evolved from "quince" and "apples" (clearly the case, according to the OED) to citrus and orange. Perhaps we'll never know.
