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We cut fruit such as papayas, bananas, mangoes, etc into thin pieces which has the same size as a potato chip and we boil them dried in sugar (Note: I am not sure if "boil something dried" is a correct expression, it means boils them until they are dried).

These fruit chips/jams can be stored for months.

Are they called "papaya/banana…chips" or "papaya/banana…jams"?

Chips often refer to potato chips and are boiled in oil. Chips are normally salty not sweet.

Jam is often a thick liquid not thin liquid (Note: I'm not sure "thick/thin liquid" is a correct way of saying) like this.

enter image description here

The below is the squash chips or jams (they are very popular in Asia)?

enter image description here

These are yum banana chips (the whole small bananas were boiled, they are not cut small) (Note: I'm not sure "cut it small" is correct)

enter image description here

Bigger bananas can be cut sideways (Note: I'm not sure "cut it sideways" is correct) before boiled.

enter image description here

Some Indian people say they are "candied banana/papaya..." or "candied fruit"

candied adjective /ˈkændid/ /ˈkændid/ [only before noun]

​(of fruit or other food) preserved by boiling in sugar; cooked in sugar

candied fruit

candied peel (= of oranges)

I am not sure if we can say "banana/papaya... candy" or "fruit candy".

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    @JamesK, you can see yum banana chips in my updated question
    – Tom
    Commented Jan 29, 2021 at 2:15
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    My banana chips are like those in the link supplied by Accumulation, below - cut across rather than lengthways.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Jan 29, 2021 at 11:33
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    "thick" and "thin" liquid is correct. Thick liquids are also called viscous, but that's more of a scientific term. "cut sideways" is also an acceptable way to say that, though I'd personally say "cut longways" to emphasize that it's cut along the long dimension of the banana. "fruit candy", to me, would imply fruit-flavored candy more than candied fruits, but again, it's not wrong to say for this. And finally, "cut small" is acceptable but sounds a little bit strange to my ears as a native speaker. I'm not sure why, though; it does sound like something you'd read in a cookbook.
    – Hearth
    Commented Jan 29, 2021 at 16:24
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    "Note: I'm not sure "cut it sideways" is correct)" The term for cutting bananas like that would be "cut lengthwise", I believe.
    – nick012000
    Commented Jan 30, 2021 at 11:31
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    Re "boil something dried," it will be understood, but a native speaker would say "boil dry" instead.
    – zwol
    Commented Jan 30, 2021 at 18:51

4 Answers 4

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Jam is a way of preserving fruit by boiling it in sugar syrup until the mixture sets. It is usually eaten spread on bread. This is quite different from candied fruit.

Dry candied fruit pieces are indeed sometimes called chips. I have some 'crispy banana chips' in my kitchen cupboard at this moment. (Even though, in Britain, we call the salted ones crisps, not chips!)

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    Jam uses chunks of fruit or fruit puree. Jelly only uses fruit juice. (Both use sugar and pectin.)
    – chepner
    Commented Jan 28, 2021 at 21:25
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    The Jam/Jelly distiction is the same in British. Jellies are made by straining the juice to remove seeds and pulp. Jellies are less common in the UK, and "grape jelly" is unknown (as the right kind of grapes don't grow/aren't grown in Europe) The distiction is that in BritEng, jelly is also used for a gelatine dish that Americans call Jello.
    – James K
    Commented Jan 28, 2021 at 21:37
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    @KateBunting that understanding is common, but is largely just due to the fact that America prefers jellies, and we prefer jams, to the extent that outside of foodies, many brits are unaware of the existence of British jellies (and many Americans of American jams). Without that knowledge, jellies and jams are close enough that it is often more practical to simply think of jelly as American jam and jam as British jelly
    – Tristan
    Commented Jan 29, 2021 at 10:29
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    @Tristan My banana chips (from a well-known health food chain) are 'sweetened and fried', so not exactly candied. The link I provided is to the blog of an American resident in the UK. I've been aware of redcurrant and crabapple jelly all my life, but didn't mention them so as not to complicate the issue.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Jan 29, 2021 at 11:28
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    @KateBunting It gets worse. We have (at least) jam, jelly, marmalade, preserves, chutney, fruit butter, confit, and curd. cookerynation.com/2016/06/25/jam-jelly-marmalade-preserves Jelly is the most widely available, but some of the others are common for certain fruits (strawberry jam, orange marmalade, lemon curd, apple butter (not to be confused with applesauce!)) and some are more common regionally (preserves are more common in rural areas where people do more home canning).
    – user3067860
    Commented Jan 29, 2021 at 18:01
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In American usage (at least), a "fruit chip", a "fruit jam", a "candied fruit", and "fruit candy" would be four different things. Let's take the papaya as an example.

  • A "papaya chip" would be something that is crunchy or crispy in texture, made by drying thin slices of papaya fruit in a low oven, or (more likely) frying them in oil. They would not contain any additional sugar beyond the natural sugars present in the fruit. (I don't know if it's possible to prepare papayas in this way, but if someone asked me if I wanted "papaya chips", I would expect something like this.)
  • "Papaya jam" would be made by cooking pieces of papaya with sugar (and not much additional water) until the individual pieces fell apart and the whole thing turned into a very thick liquid that could be spread on other foods. The top picture in the OP is a jam. (As with the "chips", I don't know whether papayas can be actually prepared in this way; but it's what I'd expect if someone offered me "papaya jam".)
  • "Candied papaya" would be papaya prepared in the method you've described: take larger pieces of the fruit and cook them slowly in a sugar syrup until they're infused with sugar and much of the original moisture has gone into the syrup. The pieces of fruit remain whole, not falling apart. The pieces are often then coated with another layer of sugar crystals. The resulting food would be quite sweet, and chewy in texture. The bottom picture in the OP appears to be a candied fruit.
  • "Papaya candy" would be a confectionary made mostly of sugar that is flavored with either natural or artificial papaya flavoring, but does not contain much (if any) real papaya fruit. Again, this would be quite sweet.
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  • You certainly can make papaya jam, google.com/search?q=papaya+jam Banana jam of a sort is also possible, but the question of whether it was jam or jelly was a plot point in The God of Small Things.
    – James K
    Commented Jan 28, 2021 at 23:01
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    I agree with all your definitions but I would add "dried fruit" which (in my region anyway) is solid pieces of fruit that you eat with your fingers. It is often quite sweet but this is mostly due to the natural sweetness of the fruit so I wouldn't consider them to be the same as "candied". Papaya is a common fruit you can buy like this as well as mango, pineapple, kiwi etc. The difference between "dried papaya" and "papaya chip" is that the latter is crunchy and the former is chewy.
    – Eric Nolan
    Commented Jan 28, 2021 at 23:02
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At least in AmE, "chip" primarily refers to particularly thin objects and/or objects with one dimension significantly smaller than the other two. So, for instance, banana chips, coconut chips, fruit chips, wood chips. There's also baking chips, especially chocolate chips, which do not follow the pattern of having one dimension smaller than the others, but are small.

The noun probably derives from the verb "chip", which means to break pieces off an object through hitting that object. Thus, the term refers to objects that are, or resemble, pieces so separated. "Chip" in AmE would be a stretch when applied to these objects, although their resemblance to French(ed)[1] fried potatoes may allow them to be called "chips" in BrE.

"Candied fruit" would be acceptable; that is a general term that does not refer to shape. If you want a term that refers to shape, there's "sticks". "Fruit candy" refers to candy made out of fruit or made to appear to be made out of, or resemble, fruit; if the fruit remains intact but altered by the addition of sugar, then "candied fruit" is more appropriate.

[1]The original term was "Frenched fried potatoes", with "French" being a verb that referred to slicing food into sticks, but now generally they are just referred to as "French fries".

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    You have a reference for french being a verb? I've never ever heard that meaning before, and it's not listed in a couple of dictionaries currently listed by google. The only reference I found was in Wikipedia which certainly isn't definitive. It sounds possibly plausible though. Normally it is taken to be that french fries ("chips") originated in France, even though the Belgians actually invented french fries, a fact that they never fail to remind people of.
    – Greenonline
    Commented Jan 30, 2021 at 5:18
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    @Greenonline I was able to Google it reasonably easily. It didn't come up in the Google dictionary, but it did come up in the dictionaries listed on the result page. "to cut (green beans) in thin lengthwise strips before cooking" merriam-webster.com/dictionary/French
    – Acccumulation
    Commented Jan 30, 2021 at 5:23
  • I stand corrected...! Interesting, it must be a cooking term. Strangely, the Wiki entry seems to imply French means "Wedged". You should probably put that reference in your answer, so we can delete these comments.
    – Greenonline
    Commented Jan 30, 2021 at 5:27
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Succade (Wikipedia):

Succade is the candied peel of any of the citrus species, especially from the citron or Citrus medica which is distinct with its extra-thick peel; in addition, the taste of the inner rind of the citron is less bitter than those of the other citrus. However, the term is also occasionally applied to the peel, root, or even entire fruit or vegetable like parsley, fennel and cucurbita which have a bitter taste and are boiled with sugar to get a special "sweet and sour" outcome.

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  • The second picture in the OP seems to be this.
    – Ruslan
    Commented Jan 29, 2021 at 23:12
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    The problem with using this term is that not many people will know what you mean, I’m afraid.
    – Fivesideddice
    Commented Jan 30, 2021 at 5:31
  • @Fivesideddice it's not "chips" anyway, because chips means thin slices, and i don't consider calling this "jam".
    – Ivan Borsuk
    Commented Jan 31, 2021 at 11:56

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