Today's dismay: currants

[kaberett]

From the department of "divided by a common language": earlier today I was Very Upset about the US use of "coffee cake", which is apparently not a cake flavoured with coffee but rather a (style of) cake eaten with coffee.

(The recipe blog intro writes itself, really; things I am already considering include some kind of poppyseed coffee cake and of course rhubarb coffee cake, which is what precipitated this particular discovery.)

This was upsetting enough by itself but Subsequent Digressions lead to the discovery that apparently in North America "currants" with no other specifiers by default means Ribes, probably blackcurrant, and not, you know, the dried grape.

... via going "hey, this EYB recipe specifies 'currants' as an ingredient for teacakes, but I've previously been informed that that means Ribes fruit not dried grapes, surely some mistake?" and getting back, approximately, "what makes you think dried grapes are relevant??? the version of the recipe in the Guardian just says 'currants'??????"

(The linking step was being Extremely Indignant about having it patiently explained to me that "coffee cake" is like "tea cake". Apparently BUT THE FRUIT SHOULD BE SOAKED IN TEA THOUGH is not a robust defence.)

Comments

[sfred]

Huh, I thought dried currants were dried blackcurrants!

I am boggling at the "coffee cake" things, though.

[kaberett]

Nope! Not over here they're not!

[sfred]

Wow! They are littler than the ones we call raisins, though..?
ETA - ah, apparently just a specific, little grape. Yay, learning!

[recessional]

“Coffee cake” = “the cake you have with coffee in what used to be a koffeklatch but we don’t use German words anymore since the War”.

It’s the cake (originally) designated for Coffee-as-social-time.

[sfred]

Thank you - to clarify: I get the concept; I'm boggling at getting to 46 years old without knowing that "coffee cake" in US English had a different meaning from here (UK English).

[kaberett]

I too am boggling. (At The Situation, not at You Specifically!)

[sfred]

<3

[recessional]

Ah, that’s totally fair! (I’ve also had many similar moments.)