Foods That Get Mistaken For Each Other All The Time

Once you start your first cooking adventures and you gain the ability to differentiate this green thing from that other green thing in the store, another problem begins. While you may think you can tell all the green things apart, some foods look like identical twins and constantly get mistaken for one another.

Since we’re here to help society in our way, we’ll list some of the most common cases of mistaken identity in the world of food.

Jam vs. Jelly

These two are pretty much interchangeable. The one difference is that if you’re making jelly, you throw away the chunks of fruit whilst in jam the bigger pieces of fruit can stay. That’s literally the only difference, so no harm in mixing these two up.

Prawn vs. Shrimp

While size rarely matters, it’s the one defining factor in this debate. Prawns are bigger than shrimps, meaning they’re also more expensive and more of a delicacy. The word prawn is also more commonly used in the United Kingdom, whereas in the good ol’ United States pretty much everything is a shrimp.

Cupcake vs. Muffin

“Oh no, I ordered a cupcake and they gave me a muffin!” – said no one. The main difference between these two is actually how the ingredients are mixed. Muffins mix the wet and dry ingredients in different bowls, where cupcakes use the regular cake method where you just chuck everything in the same bowl and see what happens.

Plantain vs. Banana

While these may look similar, there are three very distinct differences between a banana and a plantain. First, plantains are greener – even greener than an unripe banana. Second, plantains need to be cooked in order to be tasty whereas you can eat a banana whenever. Third, no one uses plantains.