Briefings for Britain, June 19th, Catherine McBride
According to a report in The Telegraph, the EU is proposing to change the fruit content requirements for products labelled as ‘Jam’. Its technocrats seem to believe they are the world’s rule setters even though jam is an English word. A similar substance made from fruit and sugar is called Confiture by the French. The Spanish call their version mermelada. The Italians marmellata. The Greeks μαρμελάδα, the Dannes syltetøj, the Swedes sylt, the Polish Konfitura, the Czechs džem, the Estonians moos, while the Americans call it Jelly.
I could obviously go on and on, but the point is jam is what the British call this fabulous substance. If anyone gets to determine the ingredients of ‘jam’ it should be us. Not the EU.
The EU does have form in forcing its members to change their product names. The Germans apparently now have to call their version Konfitüre instead of the traditional Marmalade because the EU decided that Marmalade must contain citrus fruit. But the process of making marmalade goes back to ancient Greece and refers to the process of stewing fruit in honey. It had nothing to do with citrus fruit.
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