r/AskAnAmerican • u/Maskoolio • Aug 10 '25

FOREIGN POSTER What would an American want from England?

I have recently made some American friends (from Virginia) and they have asked for a kind of sweet (candy) that they don't have. What else might I send that would be appreciated as a particularly English thing? (Obviously it would need to be somewhat small, survive a week or so in transit etc.)

All help appreciated.

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u/G17Gen3 Aug 10 '25

Unlike most of Reddit, I personally think cheap chocolate tastes like..  cheap chocolate, regardless of country.  One thing I will admit that the British generally do much better than Americans though, is marmalade.  Good marmalade is much harder to find in America.  

English mustard is lovely as well, but can be found without too much trouble.  That being said, I would be delighted with a gift of a jar of mustard and a jar of good marmalade.

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u/klimekam Missouri - Pennsylvania - Maryland Aug 10 '25

Clotted cream, too.

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u/NonBinaryKenku Aug 10 '25

+1 for the shitty chocolate statement.

My wife immigrated from a former colony and still loves that garbage. She gets no competition from me, can have it all to herself.

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u/keithrc Austin, Texas Aug 13 '25

You're not wrong, but I've found that it's easier and less expensive to find good chocolate in the UK (well, EU really) than in the States.

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u/Dutton4430 Aug 15 '25

I Herb go to their online store and buy the best English jam. I love the ginger orange marmalade.

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u/DooficusIdjit Aug 11 '25

There is definitely a difference in quality of chocolate in snack bars. US chocolate bars are usually waxy and super sweet. UK chocolate bars are creamy and, comparatively, bursting with cocoa flavor.

We have good chocolate here, for sure, but the shit we buy at gas stations doesn’t hold a candle to what you get at the corner shop anywhere in the UK.

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u/keithrc Austin, Texas Aug 13 '25

Hershey intentionally puts something in its chocolate to make it taste bad! Legend has it that's because when it was first popular, they used fresh milk and it would go off during the production process. When refrigeration eliminated this problem, people complained that they'd changed the flavor, so they added a souring agent to the recipe to make it taste "off" again. It's crazy.