What's the difference between a raisin and a sultana? | Notes and Queries

What's the difference between a raisin and a sultana?

Wendy Mcilroy, Antrim, N.Ireland

• A sultana is a seedless raisin.

  Bob, Newport, Wales

• Current thinking has it that the sultana is bigger than the raisin.

  M Robinson, Rainham

• A raisin is any dried grape. A sultana is a specific variety of (pale yellow seedless) grape and also the raisin of this grape.

  Mike Goodson, Cambridge

• Who really cares ?????

  Adam, Runcorn, UK

• Raisins are hard and over shriveled, sultanas are far juicier.

  Kirky, Sheffield, UK

• I had always assumed that the raisin sultana divide was down to the colour of the grape, one from red, one from white. However I recently bought both sultanas and raisins and the pictures on both packets were of whight grapes. Sorry to bring currants into this but it seems that they are the result of drying red grapes. If supermarket own brand packaging is to be believed that is.

  Sarah, Leeds UK

• Sultana - British english, Raisin - American English Surtana - Japanese ebglish,

  Visitor,

• RAISIN.Noun(1)(a) the dried grape. History C13: From old French :grape, ultimately from the Latin "racemus" cluster of grapes. SULTANA. Noun 1, a dried fruit of a small white seedless grape,originally produced in SW Asia: used in cakes, curries etc.;seedless raisin. (b) the grape itself.(2)Also called:SULTANESS. a wife,concubine, or female relative to the SULTAN.(3) a mistress;concubine. HISTORY C16: from Italian, feminine of sultano SULTAN. CURRANT Noun (1) a small dried seedless grape of the Mediteranean region, used in cooking. (2) any of several mainly N temperate shrubs of the genus RIBES, esp R.rubun (redcurrant) and RR.nigrum (blackcurrant): family GROSSULRIACEAE.(also Gooseberry variant).(3) the small acid fruit of any of these plants. HISTORY C16: shortened from RAYSON OF CORANNTE raisin of Corinth.

  Mark Giles, Plymouth UK

• It's easy to tell the difference - just use the nostril test: how many can you get up one nostril? Currants are smallest, raisins larger and sultanas largest of all. So, if you only manage a few, they are sultanas, lots and it's currants. Somewhere in between and you've got raisins. (This does not apply for Australian Lexia Raisins of course but these are horrid anyway).

  Simon, Sheffield England

• what about currants?

  Amy Dabinett, Wigton, UK

• Sultanas are shifty and not to be trusted like a lamb's leg in a badger's nest, raisins are a man's fruit, stern and honest like a cheese magnum.

  Stuart, Bristol

• We had a debate after clubbing last Sunday and it seems raisins are from red grapes and sultanas are from white grapes. I think it's a class thing about which ones you prefer.

  Jonathan, Reading, UK

• In a CURRENT situation, who cares!

  bob Harder, Bournemouth

• The correct answer is as stated already by Melissa Clark, Oxford, UK. The following is Courtesy of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Raisins are dried white grapes usually of the variety 'Muscatel'. The main producers are the USA, Turkey, Greece and Australia. Sultanas are small raisins. They are seedless, sweet, pale golden in colour and come mainly from Turkey. Currants are dried, black, seedless grapes originally produced in Greece. They were known as 'raisins of the sun'.

  Andy Rowe, Holmes Chapel

• I have been wondering what the answer is for not very long. It all started when I was food shopping and came across some boxes of dried fruits. In the first, sultanas and apples. The second, raisins and apples, the third, sultanas and apricots, the forth, raisins and apricots and finally raisins and sultanas. It suddenly occurred to me that I had no idea what the difference was. This site has given me lots of ideas but has unfortunately confused my further. I am STILL searching the vast internet for a reliable answer....

  Caroline Grint, England

• Stuart from Bristol needs a well padded room in a secure unit. I believe Broadmoor has a few rooms available!

  Keith, Bedfont, UK

• Sultanas smaller than raisins? Has anyone actually looked at a sultana beside a raisin? Huge!

  Stan, Stevenage Egypt

• Now I am confused.......with this current situation. :- 0

  beth, England

• What I love about this whole debate is that British people actually care about the language. This attitude is sadly lacking in the good ol' U S of A, where people skewer and butcher it on a daily basis. So sorry :( And yes, I love Sultanas, Raisins, Currants - the whole lot.

  Charlie Rafferty, Taos, New Mexico, USA

• The difference is about 20p

  Linda, Paisley Scotland

• Currant research is inconclusive as to the difference between sultanas and raisins.

  Jonny Palmer, Ipswich UK

• Stuart from Bristol - you're brilliant! I laughed so much tears rolled down my legs.

  Glynis, Copa Australia

• I am currently flipping through Nigella Lawson's "How to be a Domestic Goddess". I saw the ingredient Sultana and had no clue what it was. Little did I know the search to find out what it is would be so confusing or amusing!

  Stacey, Saskatoon Canada

• In Aus whereI lived half my life we used sultanas raisins and currants in granny's fruit cake recipe. Sultanas were much bigger than raisins and lighter and juicier. Now in USA there appears to be little difference and now we know they are the same grape but one is tortured with sulphur dioxide and no one else seems to give a darn! As for me I would prefer to find some of those old style juicy sultanas. Thanks for the laughs from around the globe!

  Roslyn, Phx. AZ USA

• Who gives a shit when dozens of kids die daily due to hunger!

  kangwa, lusaka zambia

• What wonderful answers. Why shouldn't one care: you can always care about world peace as well. I thought the only difference was that Sultanas came from California and Raisins from Turkey because that is where most of the ones that I have been able to buy have been from and that is the crux of it: what you can buy where you are. Some other places, it seems, this place of manufacture is reversed. Wikipedia is fairly good on the definitions but until now I thought that currants were dried currants. I am however worried by the use of potassium carbonate and sulfur dioxide SO I shall be using Raisins in future. I put them in my special bread pudding and my very special Apple Pie (Breaburns apples!). However LIDL's says their sultanas come from Turkey (in fench only) and are just grapes!! PS mixed nuts and raisins are the best thing when you are feeling seasick: don't know why everything else makes one actually sick.

  Peter M Le Mare, St Just, Penzance Cornwall, Great Britain

• I buy 30mt per week, as good as some of these answers are, and respect to those who have done ill advised research on the Internet. The difference is the way they are dried. A raisin is dried naturally, but a sultana is dipped and then dried.

  Pedro , Wymondham Uk

• I wanted to know this because our English neighbor (cute, little old English lady, tiny but full of chili -sauce) gave me a recipe for tomato chutney ,and when I asked if I could use raisins (I'm here in UK with Hubby who is U.S. Air Force Officer)she smacked my hand with a wooden spoon and said, "Yer've gotta use Sultanas and none of those foreign toe-mah-toes neither, good ENGLISH toe-mah toes if you please". I feel I'd better do EXACTLY as she says, the little tyrant! We've unofficially adopted her and she is (what we like to think of as) our "peppery" English "NAN"! I'm not going to tell her I'm buying golden raisins from the U.S. Commisary Ha-Ha! Thanks for all the interesting , humorous answers - You British people ROCK!

  China, Boston ,Ma U.S

• Raisins and Sultanas both come from the same grape. Raisins are naturally dried over a longer period of time and hence the dark colour. Sultanas are dipped in a solution which breaks down the skin, causing it to dry faster and retain some of its light colour. Golden Sultanas are bleached with Sulphur to give its golden colour.

  A,

• I need to know desperately! Why? I've been told "Raisins soaked in Gin" are good for arthritis, and I only have sultanas??? Will let you know the result, if I can crawl across the floor to my iPad. By the way, this is real, honest!

  Joyce, Newcastle England

• Well, love all of the answers but I am going to share my bit of info now. I grew up in the San Joaquin valley in CA. Every year we would be involved in drying Thomsan Seedless grapes to make raisens for SunMaid. We would cut the grapes, lay them on brown paper and after a couple of weeks go and turn them. This would go on until they were a dark colour. I hadn't heard of Sultanas until I moved over here to England to live with my British hubby. I am inclined to believe it is the drying technique which gives the difference between sultanas and raisens, it makes the most sense. I know dried apricots are different over here as well due to the drying techniques. In California we halve the apricots and dry them after dipping them in a solution of lemon/water and then smoking some sulphur dioxide around them to keep them from turning black and keep the bugs off. It is so interesting to discover the different techniques and tastes that come from these as you travel to different areas. Hope this is useful to some of you looking into the difference. I am all for saving the raisins as I don't like the plumpness of the sultanas. Haha!

  Mj, Exeter USA

• Very interesting read. Having grown up in a region of Australia that grows huge amounts of grapes, I feel the need to voice my opinion. The Sultana is actually a variety of grape. A raisin is the result of drying any grape. The confusion comes as the Sultana is the best variety for the drying procedure as it is small, sweet and seedless, so most raisins are referred to as sultanas. And for the international confusion, the Sultana grape variety is also known as Thompson Seedless in America, Lady de Coverly in England and the oval-fruited Kishmish in Turkey. Getting on to the currents, currents are a different fruit to grapes. Its a bit like wine, fermented grape juice is referred to as a wine, However a Reisling wine is from the reisling variety of grapes, a chardonnay is from the chardonnay grape variety, hope this clarifies the situation a little.

  Craig, Mildura Australia

• I believe the right answer comes from the producers of raisin vs sultana. As for me, raisin comes from Organic Goodies that my son likes and sultana comes from my wife's yummy fruit cakes I like.

  Gary, Dublin, Ireland

• Totally confused now. The sales girl in the shop didn't know the difference between sultanas and raisins. The pack says produce of Turkey. Is this from the Turkey's anus? Hope not, I'm vegetarian. The pack also says vegetable oil. What is all this about being dipped in acid, too? Surely these sultanas are not safe to eat. Should I call in the health and safety police. Need a quick response because my porridge is waiting for the sultanas.

  Barry, Thirsk England