What's the difference between Jams, Jellies, Preserves, Spreads, and B (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between Jams, Jellies, Preserves, Spreads, and B? ›

Jelly: Jelly is made with strained fruit juice. There are no pieces of fruit in jelly. Jam: Jam is made with mashed fruit. Preserves: Preserves have whole fruit or large pieces of fruit.

According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a spread has to be made from at least 55% sugar to classify as a jam. It also uses small fruit particles, giving the spread more texture. It is slightly harder to spread than jelly and not as transparent. Preserves are the thickest, chunkiest mixture of all.

While jam uses the whole fruit, jelly calls for just the essence — the fruit juice. Jelly has no seeds or fruit pulp in it, and is completely smooth in texture. When jelly is made, the fruit is crushed to extract the juice, which is then strained to keep all the pulp and seeds out.

Fruit preserves are a lot like jam, but they're slightly thicker, thanks to the addition of large chunks or whole pieces of fruit instead of chopped, crushed, or puréed fruit. You'll usually find large bits of fruit suspended in preserves, as well as seeds, in many cases.

The term preserves is usually interchangeable with jams even though preserves contain chunks or pieces of the fruit whereas jams in some regions do not. Closely related names include: chutney, confit, conserve, fruit butter, fruit curd, fruit spread, jelly, cheese, leather and marmalade.

Preserves are the closest thing to consuming whole fruit. They contain chunks of the actual fruit, making them richer in fiber and nutrients. As with jam, though, the sugar content can vary based on the brand or recipe. In terms of health benefits, preserves generally come out on top due to their whole fruit content.

Fruit jam is a spread for bread and fruit sauce is a topping for ice cream. But some fruit sauces are also used with certain kinds of meat, like pineapple sauce can be used for ham.

If there is less sugar in a fruit spread, that means that it won't meet the FDA's definition of “jelly” or “jam.” That's why Smucker′s® Natural Fruit Spreads products have “fruit spread” in the name, because they don′t contain enough sugar by that standard.

It can be made with any type of juice, but the traditional PB&J uses concord grape jelly. It's a soft set that's spreadable with a knife or the back of a spoon. Different from jam, which contains fruit puree or preserves that have pieces of fruit.

Marmalade is a jelly with pieces of fruit suspended in it. Citrus peel and juice are frequently the basis of marmalade. Preserves contain whole fruit or small pieces of fruit in a thick sugar syrup. Conserves are jams made from a mixture of fruits.

What's the difference between Welch's jam and jelly? ›

Welch's Jelly is made from fruit juice and Welch's Jam is made from pureed fruit. So to put it simply, though we use the same ingredients, the texture of both products will be different.

This is why preserves are often called for in cooking and baking, as they contain the largest amount of the fruit's flavor in a mixable form. Jam is most often used to complement cheeses and crackers because it sacrifices only a little flavor for an easier spread.

So if you use pieces of fruit or whole berries, you are actually using less fruit than if it were mashed, or cooked to a mash and then measured, and you will get a firmer jell. Or you may have used more pectin than the recipe called for. For example, if you used Tablespoons of pectin rather than teaspoons.

Jelly is specifically a fruit preserve that is created just like jam where fruits are boiled and sugar is added until pectin acts as a gelling agent to thicken it into jelly. Jelly just removes the pulp that jam would have. Ketchup is not made this way. Ketchup contains seasons that don't go into fruit preserves.

Preserves: Preserves have whole fruit or large pieces of fruit. Some fruits such as blackberries or raspberries will not stay whole during the processing so there may not be much difference between raspberry jam and raspberry preserve. Fruit spreads (only fruit): These are 100% fruit with no sugar added.

Sealed jars of homemade preserves can also be stored at room temperature. Once the jam or jelly is opened, however, it is best to refrigerate them. Richard explains that this prevents mold and yeast from growing.

What is the American English for jam? Well, the word jam is used in the US, though the more common term is jelly. In US English, the technical distinction is that jams contain both the juice and flesh of the fruit, whereas jellies don't contain any of the flesh.

The primary difference between jam and jelly is that jam is made with fruit and jelly uses fruit juice. Preserves contain whole fruit or large pieces of fruit.