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In the US we refer to basically all dried grapes as raisins. In cooking shows in the UK I hear them refer to sultanas. I've also read that dried currants are really dried grapes, not actually the currant fruit that's been dried.

Are there any other names?

Background: I have a very important ulterior motive. My daughter is deathly allergic to grapes. She nearly died this summer while in Hungary after thoroughly checking the ingredients on a food. I'm trying to make sure we know all possible English terms she might encounter for grapes or raisins. Unfortunately she didn't save the wrapper of the food that nearly killed her but she says "sultana" wasn't on the list and didn't remember "currant" being on it but there was a light colored dried fruit she found after the reaction started.

Cascabel
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Steve Hiner
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  • I'm pretty sure the question is fine here. After all, we have this: https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/784/translating-cooking-terms-between-us-uk-au-ca-nz – Jolenealaska Sep 10 '18 at 20:11
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    Let me pick my jaw up off the ground. That is an AMAZING post. Up voted, starred, bookmarked. That's a keeper. Thank you. – Steve Hiner Sep 10 '18 at 20:13
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    On English.se, believe it or not, it would be very close to a duplicate of [*Besides raisins, what other dried fruits and vegetables have their own names?*](https://english.stackexchange.com/q/312910/48571). My own [answer](https://english.stackexchange.com/a/312911/48571) covers little more than your question does. – Chris H Sep 10 '18 at 20:16
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    Actually I saw your answer, @ChrisH, when searching for info about this. Since I want targeted info about grapes and knew the terms you mentioned I thought I'd come here to post a question (after searching here for a duplicate). – Steve Hiner Sep 10 '18 at 20:27
  • Note that sultana is a variety of grape, it's not synonymous with raisin. – Richard Sep 11 '18 at 07:32
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    @Richard, while that's true, *sultana* applied to dried grapes doesn't necessarily mean that variety. It means any gold/yellow raisin. – Chris H Sep 11 '18 at 07:42
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    One issue may be that as an uncommon allergy grapes aren't one of the foods that have to be (or are often) listed as "may contain traces of..." and other dried fruits are likely to be packed on the same production line. Cross contamination is quite likely when you get any other prepared fresh fruit. I don't know much about fruit allergies but I have come across people who are highly allergic to something specific and have less serious reactions to other fruits as well. – Chris H Sep 11 '18 at 07:48
  • @ChrisH My research suggests only one variety is used, which goes by several names. In the UK at least, it's not used to refer to golden raisins, sultanas are generally light brown. Golden raisins in the UK are raisins whose colour has been preserved with sulphur dioxide. – Richard Sep 11 '18 at 08:14
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    @ChrisH True, since it isn't even close to one of the top 7 allergies they don't have to call it out separately. We have to be very careful because of that. We're not sure if cross contamination on a production line would be enough to be a problem for her but we do know that eating food that has been in direct contact with grapes, even just the skin, is a problem. One concern is that ingredients like "dried cranberries" might actually mean "dried cranberries sweetened with grape juice". Thankfully she can consume grape based vinegar, in fact, she loves balsamic. – Steve Hiner Sep 11 '18 at 15:06
  • Regarding currants, there's a false friend here. There's a type of grape called "zante currants". In the US I've seen these sold in the dried fruit section. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zante_currant As the Wikipedia article shows, these aren't related fruits. – Catija Sep 12 '18 at 01:11
  • Steve, do you need Latin transliteration for the Russian so you can ask too? (And thanks for the upvote and acceptance! Not many acceptances here) – Fabby Sep 12 '18 at 01:33
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    The [etymology of currant](https://www.etymonline.com/word/currant) is interesting if you want to understand some of the confusing names. *Corinth* as a variety of grape -> *currant*. Small round unrelated fruits from the New World were then named the same (see also *corn*, *sparrow*...) – Chris H Sep 12 '18 at 09:35

1 Answers1

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Reading your question and all of the comments (that include some valuable information that should be in your question ;-) ) answering what you really need as knowing the English words only will definitely not help you when in Hungary as I've seen many translation errors reading ingredients even in sophisticated multi-language countries like Switzerland and Belgium:

Languages re-ordered by alphabet as I got a few additional ones:

  • Dutch / Flemish / Afrikaans: druif/druiven, rozijn(en), krent(en)
  • English: grape(s), raisin(s), sultana(s), currant(s) (except black/red/whitecurrant)
  • French: Raisin(s)
  • German: Traube(n), Rosine(n), Sultanine(n), Korinthen
  • Hebrew: צימוק
  • Hindi: किशमिश
  • Hungarian: szőlő, mazsola
  • Italian: Uvetta, Uva, Sultanina
  • Russian: виноград, изюм, кишмиш, султанша
  • Sanskrit: शुष्कद्राक्षा
  • Spanish: uva, pasa

Fabby
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    There's a pending edit so I can add this above: Hungarian: szőlő is grape and mazsola is raisin. – Steve Hiner Sep 12 '18 at 04:41
  • Don't forget redcurrants and whitecurrants aren't grape-related, even though some whitecurrant varieties are named like white grapes. – Chris H Sep 12 '18 at 05:59
  • @ChrisH: could you elaborate on that? – Fabby Sep 12 '18 at 09:26
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    Like blackcurrants, [redcurrants](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redcurrant) (*Ribes rubrum*) are related to gooseberries and not to grapes. [Whitecurrants](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redcurrant) are the same species as redcurrants but whiter and sweeter. I use redcurrants to make a jelly with red wine and a little sage infused in it, to serve with cold meats or cheese; my whitecurrants are used for making a jelly-like jam, or for a whitecurrant drizzle cake. One cultivar of whitecurrant is called "white grape"; another is called "white Versailles" (example grape cultivar: Chardonnay) – Chris H Sep 12 '18 at 09:29
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    Ah, got it! Updating! @ChrisH – Fabby Sep 12 '18 at 09:37
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    Could we please stop editing this to add translations in languages there's no indication are necessary? The question doesn't ask for it, and if it did, it'd be too broad. – Cascabel Sep 12 '18 at 18:09
  • Yes, no issue. Above is as much as I got anyway... Can I edit and remove the notification to add more languages? **>:-) ;-)** @Cascabel (already done by the time you read this) **0:-)** – Fabby Sep 12 '18 at 23:41