A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich - What’s the Difference Between Jam & Jelly?

Episode Date: March 20, 2024

Today, Josh and Nicole identify the main differences between jam and jelly from taste to culinary uses. Leave us a voicemail at (833) DOG-POD1 Check out the video version of this podcast: http://youtube.com/@mythicalkitchen To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This, this, this, this is Mythical. Nicole, what's the difference between jam and jelly? Oh, I know this one. I can't jelly my f***ing arse. You kiss your mother with that mouth? Shala, come get your girl. This is a Hot Dog is a Sandwich. Ketchup is a smoothie. Yeah, I put ice in my cereal, so what?

That makes no sense. A hot dog is a sandwich. A hot dog is a sandwich. What? Welcome to our podcast, A hot dog is a sandwich. A hot dog is a sandwich. What? Welcome to our podcast, A Hot Dog is a Sandwich, the show where we break down the world's biggest food debates. I'm your host, Josh Ayer. And I'm your host, Nicole Iannotti. And yes, we did come up with today's topic exclusively to make that joke.

I love that joke. It's a great joke. The first version of that joke, it's like the- Is the garbanzo bean and the chickpea one?- Is the garbanzo bean and the chickpea one? No, the garbanzo bean and the chickpea one is great. But the jam jelly one, the first version that I heard is like too grotesque to even say with bleeps in it. It was worse than mine? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It gets into like some really weird territory. No, no, no. It's like the aristocrats joke. You know the aristocrats joke? You ever see that great documentary? No. There's this old joke about a family walks into a talent agent and the talent agent says wow let me see your act and then the family just performs all the dirtiest things you ever heard

and then at the end the talent agent says wow that's surely spectacular what do you call yourselves and they say the aristocrats and so the fun of the joke is that everybody i would love explaining a joke is always the best thing but the fun of the joke is that everybody, I love explaining a joke is always the best thing. But the fun of the joke isn't the punchline of the aristocrats. It's like what lengths will people take their act, you know, and what sort of improvisational storytelling. Do they talk about jam and jelly in that joke? No, they don't. But it's the same thing where the jam jelly joke, you just get as disgusting as you want.

And then the point is there's an actual culinary debate here. Oh, yeah. There is a culinary debate here. Because there's a difference between jam and jelly. Sure there is. And there's a whole wide world, Nicole, of fruit preserves. A whole wide world. I don't know that song. God, you really didn't have a childhood.

I'm so sorry. I assume it's from Disney. Good assumption. And probably based on a real historical period where there were a lot more problematic things like Pocahontas. She was 14. It's from Aladdin, Princess Jasmine. Oh, yeah, speaking of which. Anyways, jam and jelly.

I love both of those things. What's the difference to you? So I have always associated jelly being just fruit juices mixed with pectin and sugar. Hmm, and jam? Jelly being just fruit juices mixed with pectin and sugar. Hmm. And jam? Jam is the whole fruit that's mashed mixed with pectin and sugar. And marmalade? Or citrus fruits.

So citrus fruits that you take, you remove the peel and the pith, and then you do the fruit plus the peel. Plus sugar and pectin. And preserves? Oh, preserves is jam before you mash it up so it's like big old pieces. And confiture? I don't know

that one because I never learned it. What's that one? I think confiture is just the French word for jam. Okay. Okay. So why did you just say jam? So you are, no, no, you're, you're correct in a lot of those. Jelly is strained. Jam is the whole fruit. Mashed. Mashed. Preserves typically like won't be cooked, but even that there's no legal distinction. There's only in America, a legal distinction between jam and jelly. And a lot of them, it's like the mayonnaise debate, right?

Oh, yeah. Remember that one? So the mayonnaise debate. We had that one. We had that. Like mayonnaise versus aioli. And we talked about why Cool Whip isn't considered mayonnaise because it has too high of a water content effectively. Mayonnaise has to be like X percent oil by volume to legally be considered mayonnaise.

Ditto with jams and jelly. Right. by volume to legally be considered mayonnaise. Ditto with jams and jellies. So jellies have to be 65% water-soluble solids, which is to say sugar. It can also be corn syrup, honey, et cetera. But basically there needs to be a certain percentage of sugar versus fruit versus pulp, juice, et cetera. Sure. Be a jam and jelly. All the other terms, which I didn't realize this, marmalade, confure, Preserves, none of that is like legally protected. Interesting.

Okay. Marmalade's not legally protected. Marmalade is not. However, Nicole, I was trying to find research on this. Okay. And I found a 1980 memo from the FDA compliance policy guide concerning Marmalade. I know this is the exciting stuff that people came here for. That's right.

But they, I'll read from it here. We have expressed the opinion that marmalade should contain at least 65% soluble solids by refractometer. It is customary in making orange marmalade from sweet oranges to use at least 30 pounds of peel and juice with each 70 pounds of sweetening ingredient. So anyways, this is effectively a policy guide. pounds of peel and juice with each 70 pounds of sweetening ingredient. So anyways, this is effectively a policy guide. We believe the name marmalade should be used only for articles made from citrus peel and juice. Articles made from other fruits would be expected to comply in composition and labeling with the standards of identity for fruit preserves, jam, and jelly. So- Crazy.

I know it is. Well, okay. I find this fascinating because you talk about marmalade being made from citrus fruits. One, why would that need any different distinction? Because. What do you mean? Well, citrus fruits are like their own like category. But so are berries. So are stone fruits, right? So are drupes.

Why would you need. A drupe is like a, what's a, like a plum is a drupe. It's one of those weird agricultural distinctions, like a pulse, like a bean versus a legume versus a pulse. Oh, sure, sure, sure. And I'm pretty sure a plumb is a droop for some reason. I don't exactly know why. But the point is there's so many different distinctions in fruit. We only distinguish for marmalade based on citrus, which is fascinating because if you know the etymology of marmalade.

Tell me it. What? Okay. You go to España. Sí. You're eating a nice plate of, how do you say? It's queso. I was thinking formaggio.

It's Italian. You're eating a charcuterie board in Spain. Sure. Right? They wouldn't call it charcuterie. They'd call it whatever it is in Spanish. Tapas. Tapas.

But you're getting like cheese and meats. There's a paste made of quince what's it called membrillo membrillo marmalade so you go to portugal it's actually called marmelada oh right and so crazy marmela is the like latinate root for quince oh my gosh so marmalade literally means like thing made from quince. My mom makes quince jam. So your mom makes quince. You know who else made quince jam?

The Spanish. And Germans. Oh, okay. So if you track modern fruit preservation, surely throughout history they've been preserving fruit via many ways, right? People have been drying things in the sun for forever. You even look in Korea and you'll see like preserved citrus rinds that they'll add to teas. Yeah.

I think it's called cheong. Yeah, there's actually, there's like cheong-tok. There's what? Where people, like cheong-tok. There's cheong-tok? Yeah. You're on cheong-tok? Get the hell out of here.

Yeah, they take like a pound of like of grapes or like a pound of strawberries and they let it preserve in not in sugar in sugar not salt for like months on end there's like a there's like a one month chunk and then like a two month and like a year long

oh hell yeah it's crazy yeah I'm on that side of TikTok I want to get on that side of TikTok okay I'm just on like natty or not talk where they just look at any actor

that's like fitter than the normal person they're like they're not daddy as people they just look at any actor that's like fitter than the normal person. They're like, they're not daddy. As people are just eating Taco Bell on the couch. But I also like agree with them. Like most, you know, see anybody in a Marvel movie. The point is people have been preserving fruit for as long as fruit has been around. Effectively, one of the earliest written recipes we see for any sort of fruit preserve is De de re coquinaria this is the book we've

cooked from it on meals of history before yeah it was uh the well the book is actually called like apicius and apicius was a dude who was just like a noted epicurean uh existed around the first second century um a.d and he just compiled a bunch of recipes and there's a recipe for quince that was like boiled in honey and preserved. That's so interesting. And so like that's where the term marmalade comes from. That's insane to me. Isn't it?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But then there's a story about in the 1500s, there was a shipment of marmalade from Portugal that went to the King of England and it said marmalade on it. It was just like misspelled like crazy. And then like people started making it with English bergamot oranges, stuff like that. Delicious, love bergamot. And so that is one of the reasons we consider marmalade to just be citrus.

And in the American canon, as you can see from this like FDA writ of appeal, right, that's what we mean by marmalade. So there's that. That's very interesting. Thank you. That's actually very, very interesting. Isn't it? Yes.

And then there's another thing. I actually found this on just the Wikipedia page of preserved fruit, but they were talking about, because I really want to know the difference between all of these freaking terms that we have. Sure. Why are there terms, you know? One of the terms they used in that was cheese. And I was like, why cheese here? Make no sense.

Turns out in other cultures, they will make very dense fruit preserves. Like a paste? Not like deeper than a paste, almost a slice of a fully sliceable loaf. So you take the reason that quince was one of the OG jam making things. Because it has high pectin.

Crazy high pectin. And not only crazy high pectin, quince is damn near inedible raw, right? Yeah. And so you have to cook it, and the pectin makes it solidify like crazy. And then other, especially cold weather climates, where, like, you can't dry stuff, and you, like, need to preserve food even harder

because it needs to last longer, they would make things that they called fruit cheeses. That's so crazy. Which you would just cook it down and cook it down and cook it down until it becomes super hard and sliceable like a loaf. So you find something called apple cheese in Lithuania, which to me is really fascinating. No way. That's so cool.

I guess cheese just means big old loaf of something. Effectively. I mean, think of head cheese, right? Sure. And that's just like a loaf of thing, a loaf of like boiled pig head parts. That's just put in a loaf and you slice it. That's really, really cool. What's your favorite like of these jams, jellies, marmalades, preserves?

Like what do you reach for? You need different applications for different foods, right? So, so, so, so, so, I'm making a PB&J. That J ain't jam. That J is jelly. Do you mean to tell me you have jelly in your house? I don't make PB&Js at home. I only make them at work.

And when I make them at work, I use Concord grape jelly. Are you sure? I'm pretty sure you use raspberry jam. No, man. I actually hate raspberry jam with peanut butter. Because the seeds get stuck in your teeth. Too acidic. I want it to be sweet. Oh, I see. I want it to be incredibly sweet. But so for PB&Js,

I love using an old school Concord grape jelly because that's what I grew up on. Also, Concord grapes, very American fruit. I love that. But if I'm adding something like a dessert, right? One of my favorite things is like I always think of Great British Bake Off. You make like a Victoria Spoon sandwich cake. Sure, sure, sure.

I never make them though. Oh, God. They're like not hard and they're so good. It's not for me. God, why don't I make one tonight? I already made a panna cotta. What have you – we're also shooting this on Valentine's Day. I know. And Josh has cooked. You were cooking

for four hours yesterday? Just prepping for four hours. To make Julia a beautiful home-cooked meal. Yeah, I made a Thai curry paste from scratch and I cooked it down and I made a grapefruit panna cotta. We're just out of sugar too. Do you ever do that where you get all

the ingredients? And then you don't have the pantry staple i got fresh galangal yesterday i like went to the asian market to get galangal for my freaking curry paste yep and then i was going to make like a little bit of honeycomb as like garnish for the dessert and i was going to add sugar to something else and we just didn't have sugar and i was like i cannot bring myself to go out to the store no you just gotta you gotta substitute where you can yeah and there was nothing else substitute i already added honey to another thing to sweeten it and so that was brutal. Do you know what I'm making

for Valentine's Day? Say it. I know what you're gonna say. Reservations! Girl's best friend is her credit card. Anyway. Include the Rocket Money ad here.

I'm just kidding. No, but like for me, I find myself, I never buy jams or jellies or preserves. What are you making them at home? They're kind of just given to me. Oh, I feel this. I feel this. I don't have like a hardcore preference and I don't necessarily put a lot of jam on stuff. Maybe like a piece of toast with some butter and a jam like in the morning if I'm in a

rush, I'll do that. But I never find myself reaching for jams or jellies or preserves. But I will say Bon Maman. Have you ever seen Bon Maman? Bon Maman. They have overtaken the game, dude. Bon Maman, their four-fruit jam is delicious. Oh, what are the four fruits in it?

I've had that. It's good, dude. I don't know. It's good. I'm going to tell you. I don't know. I'm assuming it's all berries. I don't know. I feel like there's'm going to tell you. I don't know. I'm assuming it's all berries. I don't know.

I feel like there's like a stone fruit in there. I feel like there's an apricot. Okay. The four fruits in the Bon Mamon Four Fruit Preserve. Oh, it's preserves. It's not even jam. Strawberries, raspberries, cherries, and red currants. Red currants.

So unbelievably good. Also, I have this very vivid memory of my dad asking me like when I was like 14, like, you want lamb chops? And I said, no, I don't want lamb chops because I had no taste for food back then. And then he, he like bought lamb chops, made them at home. And then he served them with a side of mint jelly. And I was always fascinated by the idea of mint jelly because it's literally food coloring, mint extract, sugar, and pectin, right? Yeah, that's such an old person. With all due respect, Morris, you're young at heart, but that's such an old person thing.

He has like three stints in his heart. He's not young at heart. No, because that was something my dad also ate. Had you eaten that, the lamb chops and mint jelly? I don't know. Never, and I don't get it. Dude, it's pretty horrifying. Is it done because the lamb is so gamey?

I suppose. That's like a very old school thing to eat that I don't get it. It's pretty horrifying. Is it done because the lamb is so gamey? I suppose. That's like a very old school thing to eat that I don't understand. I will say I love using jams, fruit preserves, whatever, in cooking. Like the other day, I used a great way just to sweeten things. I feel you with always somehow ending up with jams

but never remember buying them. Exactly. I have so many random jams like in my cupboards. I'll be at like a farmer's market and just be like, oh, might as well drop $9 on this.

Yeah, this has chia seeds in it. And it's like a little fig jam and it's bad. But I've been like, so I don't like using that fig jam on anything. But the other day, I love fig jam.

I mixed it with a little bit of like vinegar and hot sauce and butter and made like a glaze for chicken. That's smart. And that was really nice. That's smart. So I like doing stuff like that.

But speaking of things that I bought at the farmer's market that I hate and I'm trying to dump in random things to get rid of, I put this in pancakes the other day, date butter.

You don't like date butter. Okay, what is date butter to you? I'm guessing blended up dates with water. Because that's another, think about apple butter, right? Oh my God, apple butter rocks.

Well, yeah, why is apple butter not a jam or a preserve or whatever? I just tasted apple butter in my mouth and it was so good. Pumpkin butter. I love pumpkin butter. Pumpkins are fruit because they have seeds. That's a jam.

I love pumpkin butter. I love pumpkin butter too. I love apple butter. I love sugar. I'm like a hummingbird. I hate applesauce. Love apple butter. Yeah, I guess applesauce plus sugar plus heat plus time equal apple butter?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? I guess, yeah. That's fine. Applesauce is just raw apple butter. I could also just squeeze Go-Gurt's applesauce in my body all day long. I hate applesauce. I feel like a little baby, you know?

It makes me feel like a baby. I want to get some weird diaper play stuff. Oh, no. No, like SFW, just like normal. Please delete that. What? Maggie, why is everybody cringing? Why is apple butter not a preserve or a jam to you?

Because there's certainly, there's apple jelly. It's just smooth. Something about the smoothness of it makes me feel like it's not a jam, jelly preserve. It's a butter. Well, probably if we look at the FDA definition. Also, FDA does not distinguish between preserves and jams, by the way. Really? So we can say that there might be more heat added to jam, whatever.

But according to the FDA, you can just use preserve versus jam on your packaging willy-nilly. Really? Because I've always thought preserves, like, they have, like, blackberry preserves. In my head, when I see blackberry preserves, it's, like, pieces of blackberry in there. So it was a strawberry jam, though. You get, like, a Smucker strawberry jam, and there's pieces of strawberry in there. Really? I always thought it was, like, relatively smooth plus the seeds.

Now, you know how I know that? Because Smuckers, they got the squeezable ones. We have them. We for a long time had them in our fridge at work. They have the squeezable jams and jellies. And for the grape jelly, it's great because it's purely smooth. It's just the grape juice. But then you'll get like a little strawberry chunk stuck in the squeeze tip.

And then I got to take my mouth to the squeeze tip. And then I just put it back in the fridge and don't tell anybody. So that's how I know strawberry jam is pizza. I'm kidding. I don't do that. Yeah, you do. I do that with my hot sauce bottles at home. Sometimes you get pulp.

Arizona gunslinger, you get a lot of pulp stuck in the tip. So you suck it out. Yes. Are you proud of yourself? A little bit. Okay. How else would you get it out? I try shoving a chopstick in there.

It don't work. It don't work. I just shake it. I just hold the nozzle and I shake it. That makes sense. Okay. Fruit spread is really interesting to me. What is fruit spread? I'm so glad you asked. So fruit spread became a term. All right. So the reason that you might want, if you are a governing body, to have, at first when I saw the regulations that said at least 65% sugar, I was like, surely they mean at most 65% sugar, trying to prevent companies from just loading this stuff up with corn syrup, sugar, whatever, and not having any fruit in there.

But no, they mean at least 65% sugar because of the preserving effects of sugar. Because that's the origin of why all jams, jellies, and all this stuff exists, right? Yeah, sure, of course. Is that sugar helps preserve foods. And then, but then we get into the canning era, which as we all know. Let's get into canning, Josh. Let's start canning.

Do you know the guy who basically invented canning and like helped the Napoleonic Wars? No, his name was not Ball. His name was Nicolas Appert. Oh, okay. I think he was Belgian technically, but under like the Napoleonic Empire. And Napoleon during. I think he was Belgian, technically, but under, like, the Napoleonic Empire. And Napoleon, during the Napoleonic Wars, was like, hey, I'm giving a 12,000 franc reward to anybody who comes up with the best idea that we can execute to feed our troops.

And this guy was just like, I figured out a way to seal off all bacteria inside food and allow it to last forever. And then they were like, all right, cool, but,, but we don't really dig what you did during the revolution, so we're going to take your idea and piss off. And then his factory got destroyed by the Prussians. Back then, you were just about to get killed by the Prussians at any given moment. That sucks. And then we just successfully wiped Prussia off the face of the map

and history forever. Where was Prussia? Prussia was, I believe, northeast Germany. It was its own kingdom for a long time, an empire. And after, I think, like, World War I? They're still around in a little bit of a world. I don't know. But we were just like, no more Prussia, dude.

Y'all don't get to exist anymore. That sucks. The point is canning became a big thing, meaning you could feasibly add less sugar to stuff because it was going to last however long, and we have refrigeration now, too. So companies were like, we're going to put less sugar in our jams and try and market that, and FDA was like, nah, you can no longer call this a jam. So, we got fruit spread. That's a fruit spread, homie.

That's all you can prove. There's fruit there, and you can spread it and all that stuff. That's awesome. I really, I find myself leaning towards more of the jams and the preserves. Jelly just, it just doesn't sit right with me. It's too clear. Does it feel artificial to you? Yes.

It feels artificial, and it feels too clear, and I feel like I need to know that I'm eating something from the fruit, like some sort of chew, some sort of something, because jelly, it just screams too sweet to me. It feels infantile, right? It feels like something you would have eaten. I don't think infantile is the right word word because my mother was never a jelly person. She was also a jam and preserve person. So even when you were a little kid, you weren't, like, sucking down grape jelly?

Never, never. What jellies do people even eat other than grape? I mean, like, mint. Strawberry. But, like, strawberry jelly jelly with no fruit in it? I mean, I see it at the store. I don't know that I've ever had that. I see it at the store.

Like, have you Googled strawberry jelly? I mean, there's also— I feel like Joe Rogan has being like, Google COVID lab... But not us. Strawberry jelly. Yeah, I feel like strawberry jelly and grape jelly are very popular. Why do I feel like I have no memory of strawberry jelly? Really?

No. I feel like I only eat strawberry jam. It's so see-through, it's crazy to me. That's wild. Apple jelly is a thing that I've eaten a fair amount of, which is very fun. Never had apple jelly before.

You will find it in those little, the best way to consume jelly, Nicole, is when it is, has syrup tracks covering it because it is at an IHOP next to the syrup holster

and they have the little pads of jelly, like knots. Oh, the little pads of jelly? We were blessed, Nicole, to grow up next to a historic dairy farm. That's right. The inventor of the boysenberry. No, knots.

Oh, I thought you were talking about Altadena with the little milk cups. No, knots. K-N-O-T-T-S. Knots. I know what knots is. I know what knots is. It's Knots Berry Farm. They got roller coasters now.

And boysenberry. And boysenberry. They invented it. They invented the boysenberry? Yeah, dude. The guy that invented his last now and boysenberry boysenberries they invented it they invented the boysenberry yeah dude the guy that invented his last name boysen I think it actually was like Alfred

Alfred boysen make you google that well well Harold boysen but it's a various crossbreeding of raspberries and blackberries

that's how so many of the berries Rudolph boysen what did I say Alfred boysen same thing yeah literally Orange County California baby but isn't don't you say berries berries and blackberries. That's how so many of the berries. Rudolph Boyson. What did I say? Alfred Boyson? Same thing. Yeah, literally Orange County, California, baby.

But isn't, don't you say berries in French like bois or something like that? Like from bois is strawberry. Yeah, isn't bois or bay? I think bois.

What? What? His last name sounds just like it was destiny. It wasn't, it wasn't, but really. You know what else I like?

Apricot jelly and jam. I like apricots. Underrated. Very yellow. I agree with that. I'm a big stone fruit and droop friend. I love stone fruit.

Do you ever make your own jellies, jams, whatever at home? Have you ever messed around with it? Homesteader? No.

Okay, like during COVID, especially during the lockdown. No way. I was eating more peanut butter based sandwiches. Peanut butter et al based sandwiches than ever before. Et al meaning and others. Okay.

In Latin. Do people want to know that? If you see a scientific study, it'll be like. I know what et al means, but like I didn't understand, but I didn't know what the et al stood for. And I know that you knew what it said. Yeah, like et meaning and, al. Anywho, the point is, I was not always happy with the type of fruit preserves, and I was like, I want to make my own. My favorite thing is a peanut butter, banana, and honey sandwich.

Yes, so you tried to make banana. I tried to make banana jam. You did, not knowing that maybe banana butter was a better way to go about it. Well, banana, okay. Well, there's the etymological difference, right? Banana butter, how would you make, if you wanted a spreadable, sweet, banana-based treat to go on your peanut butter sandwich, what would you do? I would mash up a banana. I would add some brown sugar.

I would add some salt. And I would just let it go for hours. You'd cook it. Cook it. Have you ever just, like like cooked a dry banana though? No. It like doesn't, if you blend a banana,

it turns kind of liquidy. I don't, I mean, who would care? You would just suck out all the moisture over time. Well, yeah, but I'm saying like when you suck out the moisture, it just like turns clumpy. I thought what I should do is add like almond milk. So like almonds, bananas, peanut.

That's a good combo. And like sugar and try to like cook it down. Add some vanilla extract. I would add vanilla. The banana turns really brown and almost gets this weird kind of slick quality. It's not great. But let me tell you,

preserved bananas like banana baby food, which you're very familiar with, it's like kind of acidic because they have to acidulate it so it doesn't turn brown. Yeah, exactly. But I don't think we have to worry about that if we're making homemade banana butter.

I'm down to make some homemade banana butter, man. Dude, no. Let's do it. Do you want to hear more about the etymology of all these words? Because I found interesting stuff out. And no, I'd like, can I say it anyways, even if you don't want to hear it? Yes, of course. Josh, you can do whatever you want.

Okay, okay. So jelly, right? You go to England and you say like, Please, sir, give me a bowl of jelly. And I know what that means. Jelly and cream, mister. That means gelatinized. I'm just a little popper.

That means jello. That means jello. I'm just a little at-fell dodger. I just got chili in my eye. You got chili? Why did you have chili on your hands? I just got chili in my eyeball. Yeah, so they call jello jelly because jello is just an American proper noun for a product.

I'm just going to take my glasses off. And so they would probably not differentiate between like jam, you know. I'm listening to you. And strained jelly. I think strained jelly is, but any whom. So that comes from the French like gelée. Yes. Yes. My mom says gelée. Oh, really? Yeah. Also my mom used to make a lot of jam at home. Out of what? Quince. She would make so much quince jam my mom like was i don't know it was weird when you're a housewife and you don't have a job and like your kids are like basically grown except you have one that just came out of nowhere like you have nothing else but to do but do like mom things i think that's how i would be happiest in life just sitting at home making jam

you know i think it'd be pretty cool doing CrossFit making jam a little bit if that was in the cards yeah I'd absolutely do that I'd have Julia work like 40 hours so gel means like to frost I can't really see

your facial expressions like to congeal so like water turning into ice is effectively gelifying right in the same way that fruit juice

turning into something solid so just going from liquid to solid which is fascinating and then marmalade, we talked about that. Yeah, we talked about that. But actually in Greek, they probably called that preserved quince paste meli-melon.

Meli meaning like miel. Oh, I love that name. Right? I would love to name my future daughter miel. But you know what like miel means in... Honey! I know Spanish. I took four years of Spanish. I know you did. I don't know Spanish. I was in Spanish. So it's meli-melon. Spanish. I was born in Spanish.

So it's meli melon. And then melon means apple in Greek. And so that was what they called that. Yeah. So you find out a lot of really funny stuff. Jam, I was like, I have no idea where this word comes from. You can figure out jelly because you know the French, gelé, whatever. Sure.

Jam, turns out it comes from the same old English word, like champ, which means champ is like to chew, to press. Chomp. Or chomp. Chomp. So, so, so, the word chomping at the bit,

it's actually champing at the bit. Like a horse? Correct, yeah. So it's kind of like gnashing with its teeth and that's the same verb. So jam and chomp have the same root

for just like kind of pressing, mashing. Josh, I've never told you this before. You're like really smart. I have many special interests. I like it. Be patient with me. So now that we know the difference between jam and jelly,

what was the point of this podcast? Was it just to get the joke like in the title? Well, Nicole, it's because I can't jelly my in her alright Nicole I've heard what you and I have to say now it's time to find out what are the wackiest

red light out there in the universe time for a segment we call opinions are like casserole Our opinions are like casseroles. I allowed myself to be the alto so you could be the soprano.

Are you happy about that? I don't. Like eating gabagool out the fridge, soprano? Not everything is about that Sopranos. Most things are about Gabagool. I'll tell you that much. I have never said anything with less confidence in my life than when I went to an Italian deli on the East Coast

and saw Capicola and went, Gabagool? And they went, what? And I said, oh, the Capicola sandwich, please. You're so embarrassing. I am. I'm embarrassed for you. Hi, Josh. This is Paul from Indiana.

He's talking to you. I have an opinion that might sound a little controversial, but I like roadkill meat just as good as regular meat you buy from the store. It's free. It's right there. The fresher the better. A lot of my family still makes

a raccoon soup that we just get off the road. That's why I usually carry a shovel in my truck when I drive off the road. That's why I usually carry a shovel in my truck when I drive down the road. Yeah, it's good. Watch out for worms. I see why he was addressing me now.

So here's the thing. Right back. How much cigarettes do you smoke? Here's the thing. Whenever anyone's like, lamb tastes gamey, goat tastes gamey, I'm like, listen, it's all just chew and sauce to me, man. I'm not going to BS you.

My palate's so blown out from smoking a pack a day. I don't anymore, and it's bad, and you shouldn't do it. You used to smoke a pack a day? That was when I knew I had to stop, is when I got to a full pack every day. How old were you, 22, 23? I was probably 25. I was a writer, and I was hanging out with chefs all the time.

It was in your vibe. But the point is you're blowing out your palate and so at some point that can be a good thing because then you're just eating roadkill and you're totally fine with it because you can't taste the difference much like me. Also I reckon you're not just cooking that up like a steak with salt and pepper

and eating it. No, you're smothering it. You're putting it in a stew. There was a tiki-taki that went a little viral of a girl talking about having a lemon tree in her backyard

and like her friend I just saw that. Her friend going like, why have you been buying lemons at the store? You have a lemon tree. They're different. They do something

to the lemons at the store that they don't hear and that's how a lot of people especially feel about animals, right? Sure. Like, well, they're doing something to them at the store that they don't hear. And that's how a lot of people especially feel about animals, right? Sure. Like, well, they're doing something to them at the factories. And it's like, well, yes, they are, and there's supposed to be FDA regulations, but there's also sometimes worse things.

I do know, though, raccoons are prone to parasites, especially during certain seasons. But if you are somebody whose family has been eating this stuff for a long time, you probably know that. Yeah, you have like a certain knowledge about it. Yeah. Sorry, this wasn't addressed to me. Nicole, you can answer. I don't know. I don't have an opinion one way or another. Have you ever eaten roadkill? Never. But I hope that you're doing it safely. And that's all I can say. I just hope you're doing it safely. Closest equipment I've had, I mean, I've eaten, we've like eaten possum and stuff, but like, it's like a serious

meal. I've had like rabbit, guinea pig. Like killed on the road? Not killed on the road, though. I've had those things, too. Yeah, and those are great. They're not roadkill. No, but it's like that type of animal, right? It's an animal that feasibly could be killed on the road,

whereas like a cow, most likely not. Okay, next question. Good afternoon. A hot dog is a sandwich. I'm a big fan, a long-time listener. My opinion is that fruit is better frozen. I know that it's questionable. I've gotten into many arguments with it.

And, oh, by the way, my name is John. Hi, John. Hi, dude. You know, I think it's better frozen, one, just for the price and its longevity. But also, I just really like it's, you know, the crunchy, cool texture while eating it. And I also think it pairs well with a bunch of other condiments, including honey and whipped cream. So that is my hot take. Okay. Great hot take.

Okay. Great hot take. I'm into this. So mad they didn't say where they're from. So I think that this gives a handheld sorbet vibe, and I'm happy for them that they get to experience fruit in such a way. What do you think, like Dana Point? Yeah. Carlsbad?

Laguna? You think Laguna? Yeah, it's giving Laguna. I think Laguna would be a little bit more posh. But that's not true. Yeah, Dana. That's not true. Dana is very posh.

Maybe Huntington, man. Maybe like a Huntington's Seal Beach, like North County, like North County stuff. I was about to say Huntington Beach. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, I like frozen fruit. I prefer regular fruit. Oh, Maggie just looked up your zip code. Uh-huh, we have that information.

Wait, what's the zip code? Where's it from? No, I looked up the area code. Oh, sorry. Not zip code. Not zip code. That'd be fre. Wait, what's the zip code? Where's it from? No, I looked up the area code. Oh, sorry. Not zip code. That'd be frickin' A. Where is it? Where is it? Southwestern Connecticut? Oh, you know what it is?

What? You know what I think it is? I think it's just a frat accent. Oh, maybe. I think it's a frat accent. A frat accent? A frat accent. I just listened to this great follow on Instagram called Etymology Nerd. He was like a Harvard... Oh, I love Etymology Nerd. Oh my God, he's got On Instagram Called Etymology Nerd He was like a Harvard Oh I love Etymology Nerd Oh my god He's got

I love Etymology Nerd He did a video About why the frat accent Sounds the same No matter where you go He makes me want To learn languages I know man

You heard his bird language No I haven't gotten I haven't been fed That on the thing But let me tell you I'm sorry that could have Been a slur in his bird language I don't know

Let me tell you I'm obsessed Let me tell you I just love linguistics And etymology So I'm all about that could have been a slur in his bird language. Let me tell you, I'm obsessed. Let me tell you, I just love linguistics and etymology. So I'm all about that stuff. Yeah, same, same, same. Does a lot of great videos. Anyways.

I like this. I agree with that. I keep frozen fruit wherever I am. I do. Because I love blending it into smoothies. And then if you are making any hot application of fruit, like any dessert, you're making a cobbler, might as well use frozen food. A lot of the times it is picked at peak season

and then frozen. There are so many advantages we invented. The freezer for food preservation, gotta use it. Gotta use it. It's great. What up? No, my name's Elio. It's six in the morning on my way to work. I feel like the world needs to stop sleeping

on the Midwestern cool whip-based salad. Yes, sir! I'm talking Jell-O salad, Ambrosia I feel like the world needs to stop sleeping on the Midwestern cool whip based salads. Yes, sir. I'm talking Jell-O salad, Ambrosia salad, Snickers salad. Watergate. Et cetera. I feel like if the world was open to and knew about these salads, we'd be in an all around much more fulfilling place. Love the podcast, guys.

Okay, love your voice as well. Preach. I like the little snarl you had when you were talking about salads. He's a lead singer in a post-hardcore band. I love your voice as well Preach Obsessed I like the little snarl you had when you were talking about salads He's a lead singer in a post-hardcore band I love his voice I have never had a Cool Whip-based salad Get the fudge out of here But I feel like I would have a lot of fun with Ambrosia salad and Watergate salad

Wait, wait, wait, you've never had Ambrosia? Like the strawberry pretzel salad that Dolly Parton makes or something I've always wanted to try that You've never had ambrosia? Like the strawberry pretzel salad that Dolly Parton makes or something. I've always wanted to try that. You've never had ambrosia? You've never had just like the mix of like Jell-O, Cool Whip, Fruits and Nuts? The closest thing I could have to that is like in like Mexican markets where they take like gelatin

and they do stained glass. No, that stuff's great, but that is not like this is yeah, yeah. Never had it. Look up ambrosia. Like marshmallows, coconut. Fruit cocktail. I know of it, but I've never had the privilege of like someone's mom making it like after church, you know? I really want to try it though. Oh, man. I remember that from my own upbringing.

You know who has taken up the mantle though? Filipino people. Oh, really? I have met so many Filipino people. I remember going to – It's probably related to church food, right? It could be related to church food. There's a lot of like very American sort of like capitalistic food industrial influence in the Philippines, right?

Spam, corned beef, all this stuff, ketchup. The reason they had to make it out of bananas because there was a tomato shortage. But I think that's where the Jell-O thing comes in. But I've met so many Filipino Americans who are like, dude, I thought this was just a Filipino thing. And I was like, nah, us white trash Pennsylvanians, we also eat that stuff. And it is delicious. I agree. Lean into it.

So it's dessert? No, it's not. It's almost like— Served on the side like cranberry sauce. Correct. It is cranberry sauce. Cool. I mean, it's probably eaten for dessert, but if you're eating this stuff, it should be at a potluck and you're going to get a little bit of gravy on it.

Cool. I can't wait to try it one day. I hope it, like, what's it called when it falls upon me? Like, I hope I get the opportunity to, like, experience it by surprise. Serendipity. Yeah, I hope I get a serendipitous experience with it. I'm going to start bringing ambrosia to potlucks. You want to freaking bet?

Next potluck, I am going to make from scratch. I'm going to make the jello from scratch. If I have like a Shabbat potluck, will you bring it? Absolutely. I'm going to make it artisanal. Okay, what about kosher? Like a patch of, oh, gelatin, huh? Oh,

curveball. Pectin? Can I go pectin? You can do whatever you want. Speaking of the jam jelly, I'm going to pectin my bleep in her bleep. Next opinion. Hi,

Josh and Nicole. This is John from Tulare, California. I sell you his next door neighbor. Tulare. World Ag Expo. I just wanted to point out that both of you have in the middle of your last name a vowel followed by a consonant followed by the same vowel.

That's weird. And the best way to eat falafel is in a sandwich on a French roll with lettuce, onions, pickles, peppers, and mustard. Best way for a falafel. Yeah. Thanks. Have a good day. Well, you too. Well, let me just say, let's tackle the falafel first. Are you sure? I want to tackle the other thing. Okay, tackle the other thing. Is he talking about Hendy Zadar or Enyati?

Enyati. So A-Y-A. I have E-R-E. Josh, I truly believe that it was cosmic for us to meet and be each other's co-hosts. I truly believe that. You don't believe that? You think it was just random? Does he know that I talk about Visalia way more than I should be talking about Visalia? What's Visalia? Visalia is a town, I believe it's like just south of Fresno, a big, big ag town.

But it's from Tulare, which is right next to Visalia. No, but listen, like I think that there's things that happen, like, in the stars, like, in the cosmos that are like, hey, you get to hang out with this person for a few years in your life. Yeah, I'd like to. Yeah, like, in the sense that anybody else could also be sitting there and saying the same thing to me. Yeah, but it's me. But it's you. And I love that for us. You know?

Like, there's a reason why we have Meggie in the studio. Yeah, it's with Meggie. What'd you, like, what'd you study we have Meggie in the studio yeah Meggie what'd you like what'd you study in no no no it's like Chapman for film production

yeah and like computer science but like graduated she has a she has a masters in computer science no I know that but like graduated

during like the boom of like digital media Meggie is so talented Meggie is like an interdisciplinary what is that like you know what I'm talking about

she's like really talented she's like Marina Abramovich an interdisciplinary artist yeah that? You know what I'm talking about. She's like really talented. She's like Marina Abramovich, an interdisciplinary artist. Yeah, yeah. She plays musical instruments.

What about Falafel guys? Oh, sorry. Let me talk good about you. No, but I'm saying like, you know, Meggie graduated

from film school in the middle of the digital media boom. Like there's factors that got her to here. Meggie, I really

enjoy your company. I'm really grateful for you here. Why do you think she went that way? I don't think it's like cosmic justice. Really, you don't think it's like cosmic justice. Really, you don't think the Cosmos were like, you will go into film production?

No, not at all. You don't think the Cosmos? I think you or I could be equally happy with other people. And I think that's beautiful. But the fact that we are still happy together. I disagree. I also really enjoy that. You know what I'm saying, though?

I disagree. This is great. This is not a nightmare for me. I love this whole conversation. Josh know what I'm saying, though? I disagree. This is great. This is not a nightmare for me. I love this whole conversation. Josh, but no, you have to think about it. Like, me and you grew up in such different, like, worlds. Like, think about it. Like, we grew up so different and so many things just were random.

And now look at us. We're, like, co-hosts and friends for, like, five years now. But you don't see another world in which you're, say, working at like in corporate at See's Candy and you're saying that to a guy named Harold. Like, Harold, you and I grew up in such different environments because you probably did, right? No. Not a lot of people grew up in the same environment.

You could have been working at Kraft if you were a food scientist at Kraft. What's that movie, Everything Everywhere All at Once? In this, like, what is this called? In this dimension, we met and this is what we're doing. In another dimension, maybe we were, I don't know. Rocks, talking rocks. We were, like, riding raccoons around or whatever they did. Maybe we were talking, like, next to each other.

Hot dog hands. And, like, you're not understanding what I'm saying and it bothers me. Like, there's a reason why. And maybe our last names having, like, those vowels and consonants next to each other is another reason why and maybe our last names having like those vowels and consonants next to each other is another reason why we're hanging out

all the time. I don't know. This is like something Kanye would say right before he says something terrible about a certain group of people.

You know what I mean? Or like how Terrence Howard thinks that he can prove that one times one is two and not one. Terrence Howard thinks that? Somebody just Google Terrence Howard math.

I love that movie Hustle and Flow. Okay, falafel. Actually, let me tell you what's my favorite way to eat falafel. I saw this guy make a falafel burger. I think his name is Danny Nisam, something like that. I don't know. His name is Danny, and he made this falafel smash burger, and it looks so— Like Daniel Meshop?

I don't know. I feel like I know that name. Oh, my God. It looks so good, and I literally sent it to my know. I feel like I know that name. Oh my God. It looks so good and I literally sent it to my husband. I'm like, we have to make this immediately. And so I want to eat my falafel

with a burger patty and cheese and lightly fermented red cabbage and homemade pita with sesame seeds. Yeah, the interesting thing about the veggie burger boom with Impossible and Beyond and all that is that the perfect veggie burger was created like thousands of years ago

in probably Egypt is where I think it came from, and it's called falafel. Nothing has improved on that ever since. That said, eaten in like a hoagie roll like that, I would say the opposite. I see where you're coming from. It's like a vegetarian meatball sub,

but I think meatball subs are among some of the worst constructed sub sandwiches. You're putting a round ball. It's literally you're biting into it and the meatballs are squirting out. I know falafel has more texture, less sauce, etc. But I would rather eat the falafel in like a laffa wrap, just like a burrito.

And then I would also say that the better application of a meatball is also to be put in a laffa wrap like a burrito. I like laffas. I love Lofa. I go Lofa over pita any day. Oh, really? I go pita over Lofa.

And Lofa over Lovosh. Is it the same thing? No. You sure? Lofa is fluffier. Sangek. Sangek's the best. Do you want me some Sangek?

I just embarrassed myself on this podcast. Next opinion, please. Hi, guys. My controversial take, my hot take, is that cottage cheese and sunflower seeds is so good. My mom used to dip cauliflower in it as well. But yeah, cottage cheese and sunflower seeds. Thanks.

That sounds like a song. If I wanted to illustrate something really unnerving about somebody in like a horror film, but a horror film where the vibe and the feeling is horror, but nothing horrible has happened yet, I would show them dipping cauliflower into cottage cheese with sunflower seeds. Do you think the sunflower seeds are shelled? They must be. Yeah, they must be shelled. Yeah. But why? There's like, there's no flavor in any of those. You can get

roasted sunflower seeds. Yeah, but the flavor is like... I like sunflower seeds a lot, actually. This is maybe the strongest I've come out against in opinion. Most of the time, people are like, uh, I put beef jerky in my coffee, and I'm like, well, if you actually go back to ancient Mesopotamia, you can find uh, no, I like, I'm beef jerky in my coffee. And I'm like, well, if you actually go back to ancient Mesopotamia, you can find.

No, I like, I'm pretty bummed out by this. It's just, it's like white. I hate that word, bummed out. Bummed out. It's like just, it's a white cruciferous vegetable being dipped into like a white chunky with just like gray crunchies on it. This just gives me diet culture vibes. Right, a little bit. That's all I got to say about that.

A little bit. Rush, workshop the recipe. Salt, pepper, olive oil. Put some stank on it. A little hot. Yeah. Put some stank on it. Pivot to ricotta.

You know, maybe some like crushed pepitas. A little tahina. I don't know. Pepitas are sunflower seeds. No, pepitas are pumpkin seeds. Oh, you're right. Yeah. Sorry.

Eating seeds is a pastime activity. I hate, you know, I just eat, I just shove seeds in my mouth and I just chew through them and I sell them. Like bird seed? No, like. Like bird seeds? Because one of my favorite grocery stores is Petco. They got really good deals on their little tins of meat. No, Josh.

They sell sandwiches and they spread. No, silly. Like sunflower seeds, like. It's like a spread. No, silly. Like, Sunflower Seeds, like, I'm not very good at cracking individual ones. So either David does it for me because he loves me. It's such an independent relationship. I love that for you guys.

It is independent. What do you mean? You do things for each other. It's called love. No, like, he cracks it for me and then he gives it to me. Or I just shove him in my mouth and then he says,

don't do that. I'm like, I can't do it. Like in Everything Everywhere All at Once where our alternate reality is that we're birds. And your husband comes over, your little mating partner. And he like pecks open a seed for you and pushes it towards you. That's David. That's David. And I accept the seed.

We'll accept your seed, David. We'll accept your seat, David On that note, thank you for listening to A Hot Dog is a Sandwich We got new audio-only episodes every Wednesday And the video version here on the YouTube on Sunday If you want to be featured on opinions Or like casseroles, hit us up at 833-DOG-POD1

The area code is 833 And the number is DOG-POD1 I thought it was DOGGPOD1. The area code is 833, and the number is DOGPOD1. I thought it was DOGPOD. No. For more Mythical Kitchen, check us out on other videos where we're launching them, episodes weekly every week. Until next time, seeing you here or elsewhere. Goodbye.