Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

marrons glacés

English translation:

marrons glacés (candied chestnuts)

Added to glossary by NancyLynn
Jul 11, 2008 22:32
16 yrs ago
2 viewers *
French term

marrons glaces

French to English Marketing Food & Drink
to make chocolate-chestnut frozen nougat, this recipe calls for 14 oz of marrons glaces, and in the instructions, Reduire les marrons en miettes.
Proposed translations (English)
4 +16 marrons glacés
5 +3 candied chesnuts
5 +1 glazed chestnuts

Discussion

NancyLynn (asker) Jul 11, 2008:
Aye, there's the rub The recipe is French, and the translation is for American readers. I for one, a gastronomical gourmande gourmet, am unsure, as I don't see it in my Ontario grocery store.

Proposed translations

+16
4 mins
French term (edited): marrons glacés
Selected

marrons glacés

Nancy, in the UK I've only ever heard these called 'marrons glacés'.

I suppose you could call them 'candied chestnuts' if you wanted to explain what they are, but I honestly think they are only ever known by their FR name.

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Note added at 30 mins (2008-07-11 23:03:08 GMT)
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Seeing this question brought a wave of nostalgia over me. My Mum used to love these — it was probably one of the first French expressions I ever learnt, with a wonderfully evocative air of exoticism about it. In the 1930's, her first husband would always bring some back from her when he returned from his 'continental' travels. Personally, I've never liked the ghastly, sickly-sweet things — I much prefer them 'nature', gathered fresh from the surrounding woods and painstakingly prepared during long autumn 'veillées' round the fire.

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Note added at 34 mins (2008-07-11 23:07:19 GMT)
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To respond at greater length to David's comments: yes, I am certainly familiar with the idea of 'glazing' as being in essence some kind of coating — that much is certainly the same this side of the Pond.

My real quibble is simply the fact that 'marrons glacés' simply aren't like that — of all the examples I've personally encountered in over 40 years, not one has been really 'coated' as such — the whole point of them is that they are steeped in sugar solution for so long that they can no longer absorb any more; in that way, they very much resemble candied fruit etc.

I can't really imagine how they ever got to be called 'glacés' in FR, but perhaps originally they were made somewhat differently.

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Note added at 51 mins (2008-07-11 23:24:18 GMT)
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Then I think you'll have to say "marrons glacés [imported French candied chestnuts]" — or else include them in the section for 'hard-to-find ingredients'

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Note added at 57 mins (2008-07-11 23:30:35 GMT)
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Surely even North Amercian cooks can't be so stupid that they wouldn't say "Oh, what's that then?" and go and find out....

I look at a lot of US recipes on the internet, and am sometimes left scratching my head about certain of the ingredients — particularly ones that use proper names, like 'Graham crackers'

Surely, if anyone is serious about making the recipe, they will go to the trouble of finding out; and if not, then it won't matter too much if they are left slightly puzzled, as long as they've got the general idea. Just how far does one have to go wet-nursing people? Do we really need to explain that caviar is fish-eggs, or that foie-gras is the distended liver of force-fed poultry, or that champagne is fizzy white wine?

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Note added at 10 hrs (2008-07-12 09:26:47 GMT)
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I entirely take David M's point about the difference between helpful explanation and wet-nursing; but there can sometimes be a fine line between 'helpful' and 'drowning with information'.

But as I said at the outset, I believe the best course of action is to retain the FR name (since that is almost certainly what you would need to order if you wanted to get some, and what you would need to look up if you wanted to find out more about them), adding if necessary the concise description [candied chestnuts], if the style of the text permits, so that even uninfomed readers will at least have a vague notion of what sort of ingredient is involved.

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Note added at 14 hrs (2008-07-12 13:27:49 GMT)
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I'm sorry I seem to have upset some sensitive souls with my flippant remark about US cooks; it was an attempt at oblique humour, but I really should avoid trying to be witty late at night when I'm dog tired.

I was in fact only trying to say the reverse of what people seem to have read into it: I don't believe we should treat US cooks as being less resourceful than their overseas colleagues, and feel the need to patronize them with overly facile explanations, as others have also commented.

However, I repeat my original statement:

I advocate retaining the FR term, in conjunction with a brief explanation where feasible.
Peer comment(s):

agree myrden
5 mins
Thanks, Myrden!
agree Irene McClure : Here is just one example of 'marrons glacés' being used on the BBC Food site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/festivemarronsgla...
5 mins
Thanks, Irene! Good old Beeb!
agree Claire Cox : Definitely
19 mins
Thanks, Claire!
agree Tricia Stuart
20 mins
Thanks, Tricia!
agree Helen Shiner : Though I think I have also heard them referred to as glazed chestnuts, too, and in the UK.
35 mins
Thanks, Helen! Really? Well, I reckon it's probably just a poor (i.e. literal) translation, 'cos I find it hard to see how these things could ever truly be described as 'glazed' by anyone who's actually seen one... Now I'd call a toffee apple glazed! ;-)
agree Shannon Summers : In the US, I think only real gastronomes will know what "marrons glacés" are, so I think you really need to add the parenthetical description/translation as Tony suggests
58 mins
Thanks, Shannon! I feel it is the best solution; after all, if someone wanted to order some by mail order, say, what would they need to know?
agree Enrique Huber (X) : you could translate into English, but this is the proper way.
1 hr
Thanks, Enrique!
disagree Speakering (X) : never came across the candied chesnuts or the french name in the usa, and i've been many places. sorry for the confusion, i think ultimately the only answer that counts is the one provided as one. you did a great job of explaining the term though!
1 hr
I hardly feel you are justified in disagreeing with the real name of the product, just because you don't happen to have come across it. No, they are NOT common in the USA; but I think my suggestion is the most accurate description.
agree Charlie Bavington : optionally with "Candied chestnuts" in brackets afterwards, seems common solution on the interweb. Now, if they are unavilable in N America no matter what you calls 'em, that is a different issue, but the fact remains this is what they be.
1 hr
Thanks, Charlie! My point exactly.
agree Will Matter : As an American I agree with Shannon's excellent explanation and proposed course of action. Very, very few people here know what these are, they simply don't exist.
1 hr
Thanks, Will! Precisely!
disagree David Mousseau : "Do we need to explain that caviar is fish-eggs, or that foie-gras... [] or that champagne [...]" - No, not in North America, because these words are part of our English lexicon. "marrons glacés" is not - regardless of the person's intelligence.
2 hrs
Cheers, David! Quite... but with 'exotic' ingredients there is a certain point beyond which one cannot go, and an explanation is needed.
agree Melissa McMahon : with the English in brackets. Cf. the vile things called 'glacé cherries', which similarly are in no sense 'glazed', but rather 'sucrified' cherries...
3 hrs
Thanks, Melissa! Good point! In FR, those are described as 'confits'
agree Rachel Fell : good answer and cf. candied fruits such as these http://tinyurl.com/5w3y72 and http://tinyurl.com/63tmsq which are similarly steeped in syrup
10 hrs
Thanks, Rachel! Very helpful!
agree Carol Gullidge : as a Brit, I've never heard them called anything else, and am not sure whether I'd gloss, but this depends on the target audience. I always prefer to err on the side of crediting them with intelligence/knowledge, as explanations can be rather patronising
11 hrs
Thnaks, Carol! that's eaxctly the point I was trying to make, though some people seem to have misconstrued my remark ;-)
agree cmwilliams (X) : I'd leave it in French with 'candied chestnuts' in brackets - http://www.earthy.com/Marrons_Glac_s_Candied_Chestnuts__P429...
11 hrs
Thanks, CMW!
agree Mark Nathan
12 hrs
Thanks, Mark!
agree writeaway : with candied chestnuts but NO to your disparaging remarks about USA/Americans. Most Brits have forgotten/forgiven that nasty tea dumping incident by now. Courgettes are zucchini, aubergines are eggplants. different strokes for different folks. ;-)
14 hrs
I wasn't being disparaging, on the contary, I was saying surely we SHOULDn't patronize Americans! Sorry, everyone seem to have taken my flippant remark the wrong way, says a lot for my communication skills! ;-((
agree translatol : It's in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary.
15 hrs
Thanks, translatol!
agree Jean-Louis S.
23 hrs
Thanks, jlsr!
agree Lucy Hill
2 days 4 hrs
Thanks, Lucy!
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "thanks to all - this kind of long discussion certainly shows me the term is not courant in the US :-) so I'll go with the FR term, followed by EN in brackets."
+3
1 hr

candied chesnuts

glazed in USA is really sugar just on the top, so even though candied was also suggested I feel the need to post it as answer and support with a web page:)

Tiramisu aux marrons glacés / Candied chesnuts Tiramisu,
Peer comment(s):

agree David Mousseau : Use this, in brackets, beside the French term.
25 mins
you can get a credit for it since you actually mentioned it:) i would leave the french name though.
neutral Tony M : Actually, it was I who mentioned it first, thanks a lot! / If you read the second line of my answer, you'll see I mentioned 'candied chestnuts' as a possible adjunct to the FR term
7 hrs
didn't you just mention the french option?
agree Juliette Scott : I would leave the French too
8 hrs
agree ormiston : it does seem to describe what they are: Definition: Fruit preserved by being cooked and soaked in a sugar syrup. The fruit is usually boiled in the syrup, and then left to soak for anywhere from four to fourteen days. During the candying process, the natu
9 hrs
yes that is it
neutral B D Finch : It might have been more generous just to have given Tony an "agree".
9 hrs
but he didn't give that answer
neutral writeaway : why did you give a full disagree to this answer suggested by someone else and then post it yourself, with max confidence?
12 hrs
i said david should get the credit, just wanted to bring it to asker's attention/
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+1
3 mins

glazed chestnuts


Yep.

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Note added at 14 mins (2008-07-11 22:47:21 GMT)
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Here's an example:

http://www.jeff-de-bruges.com.au/OurSpecialties.aspx

scroll down to see the image on the bottom right

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Note added at 27 mins (2008-07-11 22:59:58 GMT)
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In Canada (and I assume in North America) the word "glazed" can refer to "candied" as well. For example, a "glazed" donut, "glazed chestnuts", etc. To glaze something simply means (in my mental dictionary, anyway) to cover something with a coat - whether we're talking about nuts, ham, donuts, or picket fences.

In fact, I would even go so far as to suggest that this allows for great interpretation: there can be many types of marrons glacés, right?

In any case, I won't argue too much. I believe you might want to keep the original French, unless it's for people (i.e., North Americans especially) who might not know this French term.

Good luck!

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Note added at 50 mins (2008-07-11 23:23:26 GMT)
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If it's for American audiences, I would definitely translate it into English - either "glazed chestnuts" or "candies chestnuts". This is probably why I put my confidence level so high, because I was sure I had never heard the term "marrons glacés" before studying/living in French.

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Note added at 51 mins (2008-07-11 23:24:30 GMT)
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Sorry, "candied chestnuts", not "candies chestnuts", obviously. Typo.

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Note added at 2 hrs (2008-07-12 01:02:25 GMT)
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To respond to Tony's comment about "wet-nursing" North Americans: In my opinion, we ought to do our best to make the texts we translate clear and concise, so that the reader should not HAVE to research any foreign terms. It's not wet-nursing, it's just our job, in my humble opinion.

Also, intelligence has nothing to do with it ("surely even North American cooks can't be so stupid..."). This wasn't a very constructive comment. If a term doesn't exist in the target language, it's our job to translate it. It seems pretty clear to me that the Asker's job here is to render the term comprehensible to her (American) readers, and not just shrug her shoulders and say "they can figure it out for themselves - they have Internet, don't they?"

Anyway, it was a pleasure arguing with you, Tony. Very interesting!

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Note added at 18 hrs (2008-07-12 17:19:15 GMT)
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Don't worry, Tony - I didn't lose any sleep over it :)

As for the points, we can let the asker decide. I think Tony should get them, since he was in fact the person who originally came up with both "marron glacés" and "candied chestnuts", which seems to be the two terms which will be used (depending on what the Asker decides to do).

Cheers
-David
Peer comment(s):

disagree Tony M : Not really, David, since they aren't in fact 'glazed' as such/Sorry, David, you misunderstood my humour; I meant only to imply that people seemed to be implying that N/As needed more help than other people.
1 min
Perhaps it's a regional thing. I understand "glazed" to mean precisely what you explain here ("merely steeped in sugar"). However, "candied chestnuts" is terrific, and perhaps (as you suggest) it shouldn't even be translated.
agree Helen Shiner : I think this is right, but to concur with Tony, they are mostly referred to in French in the UK.
37 mins
neutral Speakering (X) : you are right, but glazed would be confusing for USA so I lean for the candied
1 hr
I agree, "candied" is better.
agree writeaway : apparently Tony mentioned it first. candied (since US was specified by Asker). http://www.tulumba.com/storeItem.asp?ic=FB500019QU464 fwiw, is also used au Canada http://www.loblaws.ca/en/food_guide_12672.aspx keeping the FR too is a good idea.
5 hrs
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