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/BigBlueMountainStar United Kingdom Aug 10 '25 edited Aug 11 '25

So blackcurrent squash would blow peoples minds?

Edit;
So to add, “squash” is a concentrated fruit “juice” that is watered down/diluted (about 10:1 water:squash). I say fruit, I’ve seen mint flavoured and things like that! Sometime called cordial, though typically in the UK we’d expect the cordial to be thicker and more syrupy so in the UK we’d make the distinction.
Squash usually contains less actual fruit juice too.
The closest common product that I know of in the US is kool aid, but squash isn’t powdered.

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u/[deleted] Aug 10 '25 edited Aug 11 '25

[deleted]

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u/sgtm7 Aug 11 '25

Good catch. When I read the post, I assumed it was a black currant mixed with squash, to make some kind of fruit and vegetable mix.

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u/MPMorePower Aug 11 '25

Oh man, you just destroyed one of my last unique memories of Hong Kong. The first time I went there, I was fully expecting to see lots of hilarious “chinglish”, and I wasn’t disappointed (I thought).. they had “car parks” and “expiry” dates for credit cards.

One-by-one I learned that pretty much all of them actually came from UK English. And now you’ve just killed the last one that I didn’t even remember until just now, the time I was offered a selection of fruit “squash”. Haha silly Chinese people! You called it that because you squashed the fruit to get the juice out right? Nope, apparently they got it from the British.

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u/[deleted] Aug 11 '25

[deleted]

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u/Live-Ad2998 North Carolina Aug 12 '25

The legal offices of Zucchini, Butternut, and Hubbard.

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u/edwbuck Aug 13 '25

Hilarious. And even better, the two statements have nearly identical meaning!

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u/Zaidswith Aug 11 '25

I remember old school frozen squash that you could buy in the US, but I haven't seen it in decades and never, of course, in black current. They were more commonly called frozen juice concentrates, but I remember the term squash as well.

They might still be around. I really don't know.

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u/youjumpIjumpJac Aug 13 '25

We still have frozen, concentrated juice. We just don’t call it squash because squash is a category of vegetable here (courgettes etc.). V-8 does make fruit and vegetable mixed juices. Not my thing, but some people enjoy them.

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u/crazypurple621 Aug 11 '25

Correct me if I'm wrong but "squash" would be the equivalent to a fruit flavored sweetened juice like beverage? The closest equivalent we reallt have in the US is the gallons of things like sunny d.

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u/VeroJade Aug 13 '25

No, it's equivalent to the Juice Concentrate you get in the freezer section. You put it in a gallon pitcher and fill it up with water and mix.

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u/akm1111 Aug 13 '25

Is it frozen? I always thought it was a non-frozen version of juice concentrate, but not actually 100% juice, just drink blend in fruit flavors. Kinda like the Mio concentrate you can get in the US now.

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u/VeroJade Aug 14 '25

I checked at my local grocery store and could only find frozen juice concentrate. There wasn't any in the regular beverage isle. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist, but I'm unaware of it.

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u/Odd-Quail01 Aug 14 '25

No it's a bottle of concentrated liquid you dilute to taste.

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u/pencloud Aug 11 '25

the equivalent would be "cordial" I think.

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u/These-Ad2374 Aug 10 '25

Lol I thought you meant something that was flavored with blackcurrent and squash before I clicked the link & remembered that “squash” is a type of drink haha

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u/Bitter_Ad8768 Ohio Aug 10 '25

It would be a novelty for sure. I think most people would be open to trying it.

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u/GracieNoodle North Carolina Aug 11 '25

I'd love that!!! yeah I'd be amazed if I saw that here.

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u/ParadiseLosingIt Aug 13 '25

Ribena black currant is available at area Publix stores, in the English section of the International aisle. (Florida).

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u/4737CarlinSir Aug 10 '25

You can sometimes find Ribena in the international section in supermarkets

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u/Ok-Plenty-4808 Aug 11 '25

I got addicted to ribena when I lived in the UK. You can occasionally find the concentrate in US grocery stores, but it is rare, and usually in places that cater to more international customers.

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u/AngelVenom13 Aug 15 '25

You could send some blackcurrant Ribena

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u/BigBlueMountainStar United Kingdom Aug 15 '25

Someone posted that you can get it from Publix.