The Difference Between Jam and Jelly
Picture the aisles of your local grocery store. Try to imagine the section of fruit spreads, where you find a large assortment of varieties and flavors. Do you know the differences at a glance? You wouldn′t be the first person to wonder to yourself: what is the difference between jam, jelly and preserves? What is marmalade? Why are some called fruit spreads? It’s not as sticky as it seems, so we’ve broken down all the differences.
The first thing you should know is that most fruit spreads include these three ingredients: fruit, sugar and pectin. Pectin is a natural starch within fruit, aka the “glue” that holds everything together, and helps to create the right consistency. When mixed with sugar and heated in water, pectin creates a gel and gives fruit spreads their texture. Even though pectin is in the fruit already, it often needs to be added when making jelly so that it thickens. More on that later.
Now for the big question… should you reach for a jar of Smucker’s® jelly or marmalade? Jam or preserves? That ultimately depends on the texture and taste you′re looking for, so let’s get into specifics.
How Jelly Is Made
If you’ve ever wondered, “What is jelly made of?” let′s start with the key ingredients that go in it. The trifecta is fruit juice, sugar and pectin. The fruit juice is what gives jelly its smooth texture. Sugar aids in the preservation, adds flavor and helps with gelling. Oftentimes, pectin needs to be added if too much of it was extracted from the fruit as the fruit juice was being made. Jelly also needs the right level of acid in order to form. If the acidity is too low, the gel won’t set. If it’s too high, the gel will lose liquid. (Source)
To make jelly, the fruit juice is combined with sugar and pectin and heated until the sugar dissolves. The mixture will begin to thicken as it simmers, and once it has, it’s strained to remove any solids. After the mixture has cooled and solidified, it creates a clear, firm fruit spread. (Source)
What Is Jam?
Jam is very similar to jelly, but the difference is that jam is made with pureed fruit rather than fruit juice – it’s mostly semi-transparent, meaning that light can still pass through it, but tiny bits of fruit are suspended throughout. It’s easy to spread, even with pieces of fruit in it, and it has a softer, looser texture than jelly. (Source)
How Jam Is Made
As mentioned above, jam is made with fruit puree. Small fruits like berries and grapes make great jams. The fruit is cooked with water and sugar to boil down the liquid and activate the pectin. Once the jam has reached its setting point of 220 degrees Fahrenheit, it’s put into jars. (Source)
What Are Preserves?
Preserves are like jam except that they contain whole or large pieces of fruit. So, the consistency of preserves is chunkier than jelly and jam. Preserves don’t spread as easily, so they’re best used as a topping. Preserves are also opaque. Since there are so many pieces of fruit in the mixture, light cannot pass through. (Source)
How Preserves Are Made
We don’t need to get into too much detail here because preserves are made almost the same way as jam. The biggest difference is that preserves are made with whole or larger pieces of fruit instead of pureed fruit.
What Is Marmalade?
Since we were just talking about preserves, it’s only fitting to talk about marmalades next. A marmalade is essentially a preserve except it’s made from citrus fruits or fruit juices, and it includes the peel or rind. That’s why you’ll never see a berry marmalade. You’ll likely notice that marmalades taste slightly more bitter than jellies and jams. This is because of the citrus peel. Citrus peels contain lots of pectin, which is why the texture of marmalade is most like jelly. (Source)
How Marmalade Is Made
When marmalade is being made, the fruit (including the peel) is cut into thin slices and summered in boiling water. Sugar is then added to help it thicken and the mixture will darken to a burnt orange color. (Source)
What Is Fruit Butter?
If you’re familiar with our Cider Apple Butter, you may be wondering how fruit butter fits into the mix. Fruit butter has a thinner consistency than jam and is less sweet. Jam has a brighter color than fruit butter, which is typically an opaque brown color. Fruit butter is also smoother than jam and is typically pureed to have a texture like applesauce. It is commonly used as a topping, filling or garnish and tastes delicious on toast, or as a pork glaze.
What Are Fruit Spreads?
Now that we’ve gone over the key differences and similarities between jam, jelly, preserves, marmalades and fruit butter, you might be wondering why some of our packages say “fruit spread” instead of jam, jelly, etc.
First, we should clarify that all the products we explained above are types of fruit spreads. The reason we don′t call all our Smucker′s fruit spreads something more specific is the sugar content—and probably not in the way you might think. The terminology is driven by something called a standard of identity.
Let’s Talk About Standards of Identity
Standards of identity are a mandatory set of requirements, outlined by the FDA, that must be met in order for a product to be sold under a specific name. They describe what a food product must contain, how it must be proportioned, and how it must be manufactured. (Source)
In order to define a product as a jelly, jam or preserve, one rule is that it must contain a certain amount of sugar by weight. 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. Other products on the market may not meet the standards of identity requirements for different reasons, such as using a kind of fruit that doesn′t qualify.
Whichever category of fruit spreads you prefer, you might be interested to know that Smucker’s has a rich history of making them.
How Smucker’s Became the #1 Brand of Fruit Spreads
After producing apple butter since 1897, Smucker’s began manufacturing jams, jellies and preserves in 1923. At that time, Smucker’s® was still a local operation in Orrville, Ohio. That changed in 1942 with our first national shipment of fruit spreads.
In the mid-1960s, we became a nationally recognized brand when we began advertising on the “Tonight” and “Today” Shows, and we have been a “Today” Show feature ever since.
In 1975, Smucker’s became the number one jelly and preserves brand in the United States after reaching $100 million in sales and assuming market share leadership in preserves and jelly tonnage. Smucker’s Natural Fruit Spreads were introduced in 2013.
Today, Smucker′s spreads are enjoyed in households and businesses across North America and beyond.
