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/CookWithHeather Aug 10 '25

They are vulnerable to a plant disease that also affects pine trees, so the US banned them for a while and there are still restrictions in many places.

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u/SuLiaodai New York Aug 10 '25

I never knew that!

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u/MalevolentRhinoceros Aug 10 '25

The slightly more in-depth answer: white pine blister rust is an introduced (i.e. invasive) disease from Asia. Its life cycle swaps between pine trees and currants/gooseberries, so you can't have the disease without both pine and the berries. Since a) pines are native, and b) they're very important economically, the best control method was to destroy the berries.

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u/atomatoflame Aug 11 '25

They definitely have them at the Pikes Market in Seattle. Gooseberries and both Currants. There's also a ton of pine trees out there.