Marmalade, not orange jam?

[MarkyMo]

Why is marmalade not called orange jam? Do any other fruit preserves have their own name ?

[priveet]

I found this on the net about the name 'marmalade'.
Origin: There is a widespread legend that marmalade is a contraction of Marie malade. The story goes that when Mary, Queen of Scots, was ill, marmalade--then quite a rare delicacy--was one of the few things that she could eat. So, the French phrase, Marie malade, meaning 'sick Mary' came to be applied to the breakfast delicacy of the Scottish-born queen. Marmalade came into English from French at about the time of the Norman conquest. But, its origin can be traced back to antiquity. Though made of oranges and lemons, the conserve called marmalade takes its name from the Latin melimelum or honey apple, which was some variety of apple grafted on quince stock. The Latin for honey apple became the Portuguese word for 'quince'. The first marmalades recorded, in the early 16th century, were made of quinces and brought to England from Portugal. But, over the centuries, there have been plum, cherry, apple and even date marmalades.

[chijiki]

As a general rule these definitions apply (although there are exceptions as in Priveets last sentence).
Jam is a puree of fruit.
Jelly is made from fruit juice.
Preserves contain chunks of fruit & juices.
Marmalade contains citrus fruit & its rind.

[babthrower]

Actually, Marky, it is called 'orange marmalade', because marmalade can be made from a number of fruits, e.g. quince, melon, lemon, etc. Too bad that legend isn't true, priveet. I always get a laugh out of these 'folk etymologies' - 'urban legend' type of history created by people who find facts boring. My source says that the Portuguese word for quince is 'marmelo', but agrees with yours that the original was the latin for 'honey apple'. Why don't we call it jam? I think it's just a convention. Just as we call a sweet-sour accompaniment for East Indian food 'chutney' instead of 'sweet pickle'.

[FredPuli]

Chutney is from a Hindi word written by us as 'cutni' (says the OED). Pickle is from some old Dutch word; Branston is from some multinational's processing plant. Bet that Branston is the start of all this confusion. Marmalade is made from Seville oranges, which are bitter; it would be, presumably, called orange jam if it were made from a sweet variety of orange. It's the bitter taste that makes the difference.