Are Jam & Jelly The Same Thing?
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- Опубликовано: 19 ноя 2023
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Why are fruit that are not berries called berries? dog breed names? or how about chips vs fries?
How about going ultra meta and explain linguistic terms?
The term “Isekai”
You wonder why British Jam is a catch-all for all consistencies of the product...
This shouldn't startle you in the least, not if you have ever gone down the rabbit hole that is The Biscuit.
In Britian, you have the single biggest catch-all term that will absolutely befuddle those of us across the pond.
We have biscuits here in the US, but you might call it a Scone without filling or fruit diced into the mix. That is it. There are layered or roll-cut biscuits and you can drown them in a thick gravy with diced sausages, or make a sandwich of them but if you add fruit or nuts they aren't a biscuit anymore.
What Brits call biscuits ranges so wildly, that we use many different words...
cookies
Graham Crackers (digestive biscuits)
Sandwich cookies (think Custard Cremes)
Wafers
... and Tea Buscuits, ironically.
But what do I know...
I'm an American with an entire cupboard packed with Yorkshire Tea.
ice cream!
More confusion for the PB&J sandwich: The most commonly used Jam/Jelly is not strawberry based preserve but rather Grape Jelly based made from Concord Grapes.
WAIT WHAT?! Im Malaysian, I used to wonder why they say jelly but put on jam, and I somehow thought it was strawberry jam (as it was the common type I see in supermarkets)...today I learnt something new.
Mmmmm...now i want some grape jelly!
Yes, in most parts of the US unless otherwise stated you are most likely to receive concord grape jelly (and probably Welch's if it's not a generic brand) as default for any thing listing jelly.... especially PB&J.... but don't worry there are 100s of other types/ flavors of jelly in the US depending on the area of the country you're in.
Grape Jam makes sense, cuz i've never seen it where i live in South Africa. The most popular jams here by far are Strawberry and Apricot, and they are the standard preserves made from fruit pulp. Probably the reason why Grape "Jelly" isn't that popular here, is cuz, #1 there is already a grape-flavoured jelly (the gelatine dessert), and #2 we have such a big wine industry, plus fresh grapes are still very popular.
It’s pretty clear and easy from my POV, as someone that MAKES these things (in the US).
Jelly is indeed strained juice thickened with pectin. It is translucent/clear, without solids.
It could be but almost never is the Jelly that Brits eat, which also could be savory. I agree that it could be called a gelatin dessert, and is most often called Jell-O.
A savory gelatin served with meats is called an aspic.
A fruit syrup is what we usually put on pancakes. It’s like a jelly, usually clear, and made without pectin, relying on sugar and concentration for its thickness.
Jam is made with whole fruit, but it’s been put through a blender. To make it a uniform consistency. It may or may not have seeds.
It’s possible to have a seedless jam that has been made with whole fruit but then put through a coarse sieve to remove the seeds and maybe the skins. But it’s opaque due to the solids still present, in contrast with fruit (or mint) jelly, which is clear.
(Fruit) Preserves are made with whole fruit, but are more like jelly with whole or large pieces of cooked fruit in them. The clear/translucent part is usually thinner and runnier than a fruit jelly.
A fruit spread is usually a jam without real sugar. They are often softer than either jam or jellies. More of a marketing term in the US.
Marmalades are made with whole citrus (any, not just lemon), and include shredded bits of the outer peel. Sometimes called a shred, but not often in the US.
Curd is most often made with citrus - again, not just lemon, but could be any - and has egg in it. Curd must be pressure canned, not just water bath canned, as a result. It is a very smooth, opaque, thick product, closer to the texture of crème freche.
A butter is like a seedless jam, but it’s been cooked down further to be very dark and thick. It usually has no pectin in it, relying on the lower percentage of water to make it thick. Usually made with apples either entirely or as a base. (I liked to made an apple raspberry butter. 😁)
There’s also a chutney, which can be made like a jam, but often has onion or other savory ingredients. Clearly we all got that from the Indian subcontinent, way back when.
Then there’s a ketchup/catsup, which we got from the Chinese, and is usually made with tomatoes, sugar, vinegar, and spices. But it could be made with all sorts of other things. I’ve made a plum ketchup. Came out sort of like what we in the US know as Chinese plum sauce.
It’s not that hard, and it’s not necessarily a US vs Britain thing (except for the Jello). But it IS a cooking thing. The name depends on the ingredients, the texture, the presence or absence of seeds, and the presence or absence of pectin, spices, vinegar, or eggs. In that way it’s like knowing the difference between something minced vs something chopped vs something julienned. Specific terms for different applications.
Good summary. The only difference from my understanding of the words is that I think "fruit spread" often does have at least some regular sugar. It's anything that's in the same general category as jam, but doesn't fit the regulatory definition for "jelly", "jam", or "preserves" in the jurisdiction where it's sold.
I've also sometimes seen preserves called conserves in the UK, both my favourite black cherry and blackcurrant 'jams' are labelled as conserve.
They both boast about only using the sugar and pectin present in the fruit, after boiling-off the water. So without Googling other definitions (because people regularly disagree with each other and it's exhausting), maybe conserve is specifically when no sugar has been added and with sugar it's a preserve?
Though you didn't specify whether any sugar is added in your definitions here, so it's possible they are indeed the same thing and this is maybe another regional thing. Certainly scrolling through my supermarket's website, none are "preserves" and all are "conserves".
I love that the fruit-juice part is thinner, because it's easier to spread and is subtler, and I also usually prefer the smaller fruits because they're closer in size to larger fruits that had been chopped-up a bit. So I usually just buy the blackcurrant one, but now I kind of want to try making my own from a mix of a few fruits.
And yes, chutneys are wonderful too. Always think of them as something to go with cheese or curry, or certainly in a sandwich, but not with bread on its own like I'd do with jams (umbrella term). And the chutneys that are just vegetables with no fruit are sometimes called relishes, but that really blurs the line between pickling and jamming (even moreso than the presence of vinegar and onions in fruity chutneys).
I honestly probably use chutneys much moreso than any other type of jam. But then I really explore the variety there.
Jelly is made from juice, jam is from fruit pulp, preserves is jam with intact fruit pieces, conserves are preserves with some added bits like nuts. They all come from the same aisle at the supermarket and they all come in the same jar for any given brand so we tend to lump them all in as jelly, my favorite peanut butter and jelly sandwich is made with strawberry jam.
In the case of the popular fruit types, you'll often see jam, jelly and preserves of the same fruit right next to each other on the shelf.
Jello is also just called gelatin occasionally, although I will admit use of the brand name is exceedingly common. For even more confusion, Jello the brand is also known for making a pudding dessert line, so you could drag in differences between British and American pudding into this conversation, too.
I think "Gelatin Dessert" is used just in cases where you deliberately want to avoid using the trademark name.
Yes. In America pudding primarily connotes a starch thickened dairy dessert. There’s a video by Adam Ragusea that goes through the origin of the word pudding and how it came to refer to sausages and dessert and puddings.
@@SuprousOxideI’ve rarely heard people just refer to jello as gelatin so it’s used but just very infrequently
In my part of the US, jelly is sweet thickened juice, like you say. However, a 'preserve' is also a separate category. Jam and preserves are both the sort of fruit spreads with actual fruit in them, but jam has a smooth or nearly smooth consistency whereas preserves are very chunky, often with whole or nearly whole fruits.
This is exactly how I've always understood it, and I'm from Texas. My grandparents made homemade jellies, jams and preserves from fruit they had grown or otherwise harvested from wild fruit trees and bushes in the woods.
Yup, I don’t even think this is all that regional in the US - Jelly is by far the most affordable (and therefore most familiar, most popular, given the most shelf space, used colloquially, etc.) but spreads labeled jams and preserves are sold on the same aisle everywhere from Wal-Mart to regional grocery chains. Preserves are less sweet than jams so they’re less popular with kids but more popular with the sort like me that prefers something tasting closer to the fruit it’s supposed to be a stand-in for.
Jelly has an air of being lower class.
There was a commercial for a preserve brand where a bunch of upper class people sitting around a breakfast table and we're asking each other in posh accents to "Please pass the Polaner All Fruit", until a guy in a cowboy hat with a thick southern accent chimed in "Would ya please pass the jelly!" To everyone's shock and horror
@@mhill1028 Ah, okay, yeah; I'm up in NE (New England. "Northeast" if we're including the frontier New Englanders), so @zachl330 (can't @ multiple people? sheesh) is right about it not being regional.
@@zachl3330 I've always preferred jam or preserves. I may have liked jelly when I was 9 or younger, but I've mostly sensed a kind of wrongness with jelly. Maybe it's the lack of texture.
In America, Jam has pieces of fruit. Jelly doesn't. 😊
Yes he says that in the video
This is correct, nothing confusing about it
But, PB + J isn't peanut butter and jam so there must be some confusion that side of the pond
I thought I was seeds not chunks
American here -- jam is held together by the fiber in the fruit. Jelly is fruit juice that is mixed with gelatin. No gelatin in jam. That's the difference. So jam is vegan, jelly isn't.@@ELeCTriicChiiCKen
Good video as always. As a person from Kansas, I would like to point out that we often refer to both jam and jelly as just jelly, What we both call jam is fairly popular. Also, we tend to use the word "Preserves" for whole fruit preserved in a jar. it is not usually mashed like jam.
I'm from Kansas as well. Hello!
Actually in daily person to person usage it’s pretty common to call either one jam or jelly regardless of which it actually is. Unless there’s some of each on the table and you don’t point or specify a flavor the sloppiness doesn’t matter.
I think jam is still relatively popular in the USA. Again usually berries like blackberries where it’s easy to throw the whole lot in with pulp and seeds . Jellies usually something like grape where it’s easier to juice the fruit. And strawberry preserves are fairly common with the whole fruit. My favorite, though can be hard to find, is plum jam. It’s a nice balance between sweet and tart.
Patrick, in classic cookery/gastronomy, the correct term for a savoury meat based jelly is an aspic jelly or just aspic. In previous eras they could be set in a large mould and used as centre piece or smaller ones as a garnish. Now though, as you mentioned, we finish our pork pies with them. However they can crop up in fine dining.
Interesting that you make the distinction between fruits for jams/preserves in the UK here. In Australia, we call lots of 'preserves' a jam - all of the 'berries', but also ones like apricot jam, plum jam or cherry jam. We do use the term marmalade for any citrus preserves (lime, orange and cumquat are common), and of course lemon curd (I believe more commonly known as 'lemon butter' here). But it is interesting to hear that you wouldn't use the term jam for stonefruits in the UK like we would here in Aus, given we are usually quite closely aligned with UK terminology...
(We do use the terms 'preserve' and 'conserve' here also for 'chunky' jams on product labels, but nobody really uses those terms in conversation. We use the term jam irrespective of consistency usually.)
When I was younger, my favourite cartoon was a D. Kids show called Jelly Jam.
Greetings from Brazil🇧🇷🇬🇧
I was actually eating a Peanut Butter and Jelly while watching this video. It was with chunky peanut butter and Strawberry Jam. It's perfectly normal to make PB&Js with jam, and for me it's a preference because I dislike the texture of Jelly. Even with Jam I will still always call it a Peanut Butter an Jelly, even though it is not really jelly. I checked my local target's selection of Jams and Jellies and it's a pretty even line up between jams and jellies. Weird thing is a lot used the term "fruit spread" and I have no idea why. Neither jam nor jelly are trade marked terms, and no American would describe the product as a "fruit spread," no they would just call it a jam or jelly. Many Jams used the term "preserves" instead of jam, and that makes more sense, as those are pretty interchangeable. My only guess is because of some FDA rule, but it is really hard to read FDA documents as a layman. Also we also call Orange Jam marmalade.
You can still have lemon marmalade. Lemon curd is more of a sauce, than gelled. In fact, I brought home a jar of lemon marmalade from Scotland, so is available in the UK.
"Preserves" also covers pickles, whole figs, artichokes, gefilte fish, and some other jarred foods. I wouldn't spread any of these on my PB sandwich.
I was just at the market this morning, buying preserves. The only common "jam" is strawberry. There are others, like raspberry, blackberry, but they have so many small seeds, that the manufacturers find it easier to filter out the fruit solids with the seeds, than try to separate the two. Strawberry has a better fruit to seed ratio, so is profitable enough to separate, if desired.
Also chutmeys like what is served in Asian cuisine also Branston pickle is a chutney..
congratulations on tackling a most difficult topic; you did an excellent description of the american experience.
This is a very thorough video! Thanks for clearing it up :)
Here in New Zealand where I grew up in the Fifties, despite once being a British colony, we used the USA distinctions thusly: Jam was a preserve with actual pieces of berry, jJelly was a preserve made with berries but was clearish, coloured by whatever berry used. Guava jelly was common, but blackberry jelly was also a thing. However, the children's party dessert was also called Jelly. Context sufficed to differentiate the two Jellies.
I used to like peanut brittle, which was a confection made with peanuts in a matrix of hard crunchy toffee. It wasn't much of a step from there to peanut butter and honey sandwiches, which were a thing. When I later heard of the USA peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I initially thought of it as an odd combination, but then I realised it was little different from peanut butter and honey, and I totally got it.
In French, we do make a distinction between "gelée" (from which the American English word "jelly" probably came) and "confiture" (which is more general but usually refers to what you'd consider "jam" or "preserves"- with lots of fruit pulp/pieces in it). In both cases, the thickening agent is "pectine" (pectin in English, of course), a soluble plant fibre.
British "Jelly" (or the American brand name atrocity called "Jell-o") we know as "gelatine", because that's what its (animal-based) thickening agent is. (Unless, that is, it also has a fair bit of cream and actual NATURAL flavouring, in which case it's a "crème bavaroise"...).
VIVE LA VRAIE CUISINE! 😉
I think we Americans had the 'Jell-O' imprinted largely due to The Jack Benny Show on radio. The program was extremely popular, and Jell-o was the sponsor from the mid-to-late 1930s until into the 1950's (except for the war years when sugar rationing was going on - they switched to Grape-Nuts Flakes for the duration, and even had a series of running gags about the announcer, Don Wilson, unable to switch from the Jello ad he'd been doing forever)..
The name was so associated with Jack Benny that it led to a great gag on "The Lucy Show". Jack, as himself, is coming into the bank the show is set in to get a loan. They go through the loan application process until Mr. Mooney (Gale Gordon) asks Jack if he has any identifying tattoos. Jack looks embarrassed, and Lucy blushes and looks down.
Mr. Mooney: "Can you whisper it to me?" Jack leans over and whispers into the banker's ear.
Gale Gordon's eyebrows go up and he says "J E L L O?!"
Marmalades have citrus rind in them as well... and then there are the Butters (Apple and Pear for example) that are the fruit finely pureed with juice added in to make it thinner...
Jelly: fruit juice + sugar.
Jam: chopped or pureed fruit + sugar.
Chutney: chopped or pureed fruit + sugar + vinegar + spices.
Preserves: whole fruit or fruit chunks + sugar.
Butters are made from pureed fruit. (In the USA we have apple butter, not just peanut butter.) They are not as sweet as preserves, jams, or jellies but offer a full fruit flavor.
Fruit spreads (only fruit): These are 100% fruit with no sugar added.
Honey: bee vomit 😜
I pretty much agree with you. However, Patrick seems to think that (US) jams and jellies are made only with berries. Actually, apricot jam is pretty popular here and there are other fruit jams as well.
In India, chutney refers to any plant based puree unless it already has a name (like Ketchup).
It can be a 'normal' fruit like mango, technically fruit but not normally considered as such like tamarind, leaves like mint etc.
man, it's been a while since ive had some applebutter. hrrnnnngg
@@user-nu8ob5vc6s You are so right. Here in Texas, cactus jelly is a big seller, and it's not made with berries. 🌵
@@duckpotat9818 In the USA mint jelly is served with lamb or pork chops.
Preserves in the US also has a specific meaning. It refers to a similar spread with whole fruit, or at least roughly cut fruit, rather than crushed or minced fruit in jam, or juice in jelly.
In Flanders, we call the spread with chunks of fruit fruit or seeds in it "confituur" and those without "gelei".
We also call orange-based jams "marmelade", but with a slightly different pronunciation.
So, basically what the French do.
Jam has crushed fruit. Preserves have whole or cut fruit. But people often don't bother to make the distinction.
Gelatin is the thickening agent in jello. Jell-O is a brand of jello, but there's also Jell-O brand pudding.
American here. I use jam and jelly like rectangle and square. All jellies are jam but not all jam is jelly in the same way that all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are square and I do use consistency to distinguish the two. I reserve the word "preserves" for any consistency spread as long as it was either handmade or purportedly made in a small batch or plausibly with all-natural ingredients. It has a connotation of the spread being homemade to me.
As usual Canada is somewhat in the middle 😆. At least in my experience growing up we used the British term jam for all of it like you said, and called them peanut butter & jam sandwiches, but we also called the dessert Jello like Americans. We didn’t ever use the term jelly. Now I’m in the U.S. and it was so weird learning they call it jelly instead of jam.
Growing up, we only ever ate preserves / jam. Jelly was the thing in pastries (jelly tart, jelly doughnut). I always thought it was weird that a PB&J was called a "peanut butter and jelly" when it had jam in it. It wasn't until I was an adult that I realized you could buy jars of jelly just like jam and that perhaps is why it's called peanut butter and jelly. Heh.
Thanks for the video. I thought it was as simple as a word swap but what you've revealed to me here is that really we use the same words for Jams and Jellies and that maybe the Americans just use the term Jelly a bit more consistently. And that our Jelly as a dessert is probably on top of the word used for those mealtime Jams, so Jello is just as acceptable and more understandable.
In my neck of the woods (Southeastern US), jam/jelly is used pretty interchangably. Those who actually make the stuff probably use them more selectively, but regular folk don't seem to care.
In Norwegian we also technically differentiate jam (with pulp) which we call "syltetøy" (literally "preserved stuff") from jelly (strained) which we call "gele"; but we only really use that style for "ripsgele" (redcurrant jelly) and "rognebærgele" (rowanberry jelly), presumably because they are somewhat bitter and needs a lot of sugar and because they're full of really hard little seeds. All other jams here typically contains all or at least most of the pulp. I think you might not be allowed to sell the American style jellies as "syltetøy" it probably has to be sold as a "saus" (sauce) or something like that; "gele" would be confusing for anything but for rowan and currants since "gele" normally refers to a gelatine based dessert.
We also use "syltetøy" as the generic term for all sorts of fruit based preserves including the two jellies and marmelades (and probably "curd" too, though I've only ever seen "lemon curd" in some grocery stores imported from UK; so I don't think we have a word for that).
American preserves culture is complicated and has a ton of products. Jelly uses Pectin to create something more similar to a UK Jelly. While Jam does not have Pectin and is overall a less refined product. This message gets lost because most Americans don't make there own preserves anymore, but do buy mass produced Jelly.
Redcurrant jelly, a clear example of a fruit based seedless preserve in the UK. I can remember as a child my mum making blackberry jelly i.e. a jam with the seeds removed. To me as a UK based viewer, a jelly is a seedless jam.
I remember back in the early days of RUclips, a British RUclipsr tried an "American" peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and absolutely hated it. The only problem was it was actually a peanut butter and *gelatin* sandwich, which sounds pretty gross to me. He was corrected in the comments, and if I remember correctly, he tried it with jam and didn't like it much better, but he did say that he wasn't a fan of peanut butter. PB&J is such a staple in the US, I don't think many Americans dislike peanut butter, but I can see how it might be kind of gross if you're not used to it.
Peanuts are a widely farmed item in the southern USA.
To me, (as a west coast Canadian,) Jam and jelly are basically the same, but jam has more real fruit prices than a jelly does. Crabapple jelly is basically just the juice coagulated, whereas Strawberry jam would have little pieces of strawberries in the coagulation. A jello is like a jelly, to the extreme. You can cut a jello anyway you want, and it will bounce back into shape; a jelly is a kind of semi-liquid that can't retain any form. Jello is more of a desert, and jelly/jam are spreads
The US has marmalades and curds and preserves, too, and those generally follow the same definitions Brits use. However, American "jelly" is made from fruit juices which are readily available and cheap. This is why grape, apple and mint are the most common jellies in the US (mint jelly, often served with lamb, is just apple jelly with mint extract added). Also, most Americans refer to savory gelatins as "aspics" even though the textbook definition of aspic is "a savory jelly made with meat stock, set in a mold and used to contain pieces of meat, seafood, or eggs". They were really popular in the 1950s... not so much these days.
Locally we have both of them and jams are spread made from any fruit and jellies are made for the same fruit too but have the consistency of young coconut flesh we called jelly because it so tender and is eaten as a dessert or just dump into a bread.
The (American) jelly is also stiffer (more pektin) so it is wobbly if you get a big piece out of the jar, even if it can be spread. We make the same distinction in Norwegian.
Northern Californian here to say how I've always thought of the terms used:
Jelly - the gelatin-like ones (most often grape) that are not so fun to try to spread
Jam - the easy spreads, which might at most have some seeds in it but no chunks of fruit
Preserves - the stuff with chunks of fruit in it (the good stuff)
Marmalade - the citrus spreads I want nothing to do with because I don't like the taste
Butter - spreads whose basis is not fruit (peanut, cashew, cookie dough, etc.), which is usually supposed to go with the above
South African here. In my experience it is pretty much the British distinction, but with marmalade sometimes used for oranges (I think specifically with junks) and preserve sometimes used for figs and/or mint and similar stuff.
That was a very nuanced presentation, Patrick, showing that there are some very fine distinctions between the various categories of fruit-based preserves. Perhaps, as well as highlighting the jams that are called jellies because they are intended, broadly, for serving with meats you could have mentioned things like crab apple, quince, gooseberry and redcurrant jellies that are actual jellies as the solids have been strained out. As a North Midlander I clearly recall, during a brief spell of living on the South Coast, the idea of having meats with jellies being thought terribly Midlands or Northern by a local there. It was actually referred to as jam, with one remarking something along the lines of, "Why would you have meat with jam?"
I'm sorry, but from my perspective both "meat with jelly" and "meat with jam" sound equally alien and unappetizing...
@@dancoroian1 You're obviously spiritually a Southerner, therefore!
@@christopherbentley7289 well, I'm a 1st-gen immigrant and I've lived all over the place...but among the longest was my stay in Durham, NC 😜
@@dancoroian1 Ah! So the word 'Southerner' would have a rather different meaning to you than it would to me?...and indeed, in U.S. terms, you are a Southerner, if your longest stay was in NC.
@@christopherbentley7289 no, I'm more American than anything else...fully understood Southerner in the way that you meant it lol
This brought to mind the soda vs pop (vs coke) thing the US has going on. And my response to "why would you call all sodas, cokes?" is "do you call it a band-aid or an adhesive bandage? do you call it a large outdoor waste receptacle or a dumpster? do you do a web search using the Google search engine or do you google stuff?" All this to say I find it interesting how trademarked names can become genericized, and, if I offer you a coke, I just might ask you what kind.
You won't have to ask what kind, since one kind is either "a coke" or "a bottle of" coke, while the other kind is either "some coke" or "a line of". I suppose both can be just "coke", but one kind you "drink", or "have"; while the other kind you "do". 😜
@@sharonminsuk The trick is I'm broke so I have lots of types of coke but no Coca-Cola. But if you want general-store cola or dr store or mt. store, I got you. But we gonna have to go to the super shady part of town for offbrand lines
Jam is somewhat popular in the US too. Most often strawberry or raspberry. Now I want to send you some grape jelly
We have both jam and jelly in the US and they are slightly different in texture and sweetness. Jam is softer and usually has a coarser texture that still has discernable fruit bits in it, whereas jelly is firmer (because of pectin) and generally homogeneous in texture. It also tends to be a bit sweeter. For whatever reason, though, my experience is that people default to "jelly" as the generic term for any fruit preserve you put on toast, while "jam," "marmalade," "preserves," etc. are used to specify only those exact product types as distinct from jellies. One brand of jam-like product (they labeled it as a "fruit spread" to be as confusing as possible) called Polaner All Fruit used to run ads with an unsophisticated hillbilly type asking for jelly in a fancy setting, leading to shattered monocles and fainting women because what they actually offered was All Fruit. The tagline said something like "Call it wonderful, call it spectacular...just please don't call it jelly."
Good week to discuss this! At Thanksgiving in the U.S., cranberry sauce is commonly served alongside the rest of the feast. But it's actually more like a thick type of (American) jelly, typically served from a can, and you can eat it with a fork as a side dish. There are folks who have cranberry sauce with chunks of cranberry in it, and consumed the same way. Not many folks, but they do exist!
Here in Costa RIca, jalea, mermelada, preservas, gelatina... also compotas, confituras...
One important distinction is that Jam or jelly in the US is almost universally a plant based product and relie on pectin for the gelling agent, which maybe added or solely found in the fruits used.... gelatin is not going to be something you find in jams/jelly. Gelatin is generally assumed to be animal based. While plant based gelatin equivalents are readily available and used in certain applications. Jell-O I believe has used a seaweed based gelatin for decades. Due to the preservative effects of sugar and high acid in jam and jelly's that make them safely shelf stable they are not compatible with gelatin but perfect for pectin to gel. The acid would break down the gelatin shortly and resulting in a runny liquid...
To me jam is like the picture you had with fruit seeds, preserves with pieces of fruit, jelly solid and a bit wiggly, and jello as the dessert quite often made with a mould.
To add to your bewilderment; in Swedish the main word for jam is sylt, but a little more luxurious (at least it used to be) version of it is called marmelad, marmalade
Funnily enough, I've never heard of mint jelly or cranberry jelly in savoury dishes here in the UK. It's always been called mint sauce and cranberry sauce, whether naturally thin or mega-thickened.
I hate to break it to you, but it's more complicated even than that! Here in the U.S., we have *_three_* words for different varieties of... this stuff. In the supermarket aisle, not far from the peanut butter of course, you will see "jelly", "jam", and "preserves". But don't worry, we are confused about it, too! It took me decades on this earth to acquire a general sense of the distinctions. I personally favor "preserves", which seem to have the biggest chunks of fruit. Peanut butter and strawberry preserves, that's my fave! ...Oh, and by the way, since this video was posted just a few days before our Thanksgiving holiday - probably the biggest day of the year for "cranberry jelly" as I think you called it - I have to point out that I have only ever heard it called cranberry "sauce"! And this can cover the whole range of consistencies: purely "jelly"-like, strained, pure, and perfectly transparent, like the stuff my mom used to buy in a can every Thanksgiving (which I really never cared for), up to the "preserves"-like, completely chunky stuff made from whole berries, like I'm about to cook up a batch of any day now. And it's all "cranberry sauce".
In the US the terms are used imprecisely and interchangeably, but technically, jelly is made from thickened fruit juice (or an infusion, e. g. mint jelly); jam is made from mashed fruit; and preserves are made from whole fruit or large fruit chunks. Whether or not the fruit is a berry doesn't matter. While grape jelly is probably the most popular single item, and the classic PBJ ingredient, I would say that in the stores I shop that jams and preserves collectively dominate. As an adult I prefer strawberry or apricot preserves to grape jelly.
I’m American and a huge PB&J fan and I usually say jelly as a blanket term for jams and jellies to not sound pretentious but when I do have to specify, I go by the classification Welch’s goes with since that’s the brand I get, where jam is a smooth, very easily spreadable spread, and jelly has a slight jello/jelly/gelatin dessert-like consistency and usually needs to be chopped up a bit with my spoon before spreading it. If I don’t chop it up a bit it just kinda moves along the bread rather than spreading like a jam does. Idk why exactly Welch’s even has these as two separate products at all let alone with those as the names since it seems opposite to what the widely accepted American definitions are.
My mother preferred to make peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwiches for herself, which led to my siblings and I also eating it more often than peanut butter and jelly. Eventually we almost never had jelly in the house, and only ate it when visiting relatives.
I would be curious if what we call grape jelly in the states is called a marmalade, or if it's grouped in with berries like over here? as well as that, at least for strawberry and grape (the most popular flavours here) you can find them in preserves, jam, jelly, and spread varieties. interesting video as this has intrigued me for a long time!
As usual, Canada splits the difference between the US and UK. Our terminology is closer to the US but our tastes are a bit closer to the UK. Preserves made from berries (and sometimes other fruit, like strawberry and rhubarb together) is jam. The preserves made from fruit juice is jelly (as is the mint stuff for lamb) but most of us would grasp the British dessert meaning from context (although we would likely default to jello a fair bit). Marmalade (various citrus fruits and also ginger marmalade from the UK) is common enough too as a fruit preserve.
Like the UK, we mostly tend to eat the whole fruit based jam (strawberry and raspberry jams are probably the two most popular, with blueberry and mixed berries being common, along with Saskatoon berries out west) rather than fruit juice based jellies. A Canadian PB&J is very likely to have strawberry jam rather than the American style grape jelly (which is not very popular in Canada, although it is available) and is often just called a PBJ (peanut butter and jam). Nutella (a European chocolate hazelnut spread) and various other sweet spreads (sometimes caramel or maple based) can sometimes be used instead of jam for a similar sweet-savoury contrast but jam is definitely most common.
In the 90s there was a band named Green Jello, but the lawyers got after them and they changed their name to "Green Jelly", which is still pronounced "Green Jello"
And what of aspic, which is of a savory delicacy sort?
Calling things by their brand names is actually really common here in Chile. There's a toilet paper brand called Confort, so that's what we call toilet paper, we call shaving razors Gillettes, we call adhesive tape Scotch and I could go on.
Also, interestingly, we call lollipops: kojaks, because of the Telly Savalas show from the 70s.
Who loves ya, baby?
Jelly in America is a seedless pulpless jam. It doesn't have to be artificial, just has to be strained of the stuff. Preserves has nearly whole fruit in it. Pectin is also a variable, though I'm not sure how it is a differentiation. Like maybe it's all jelly and jam uses a great deal of pectin, and preserves has to use mostly sugar and the fruits natural pectin...Or maybe it's vice versa.
From my experience as an American in grocery stores, there are three levels of fruit/berry + sugar concoctions of this sort: preserves, jam, and jelly. And that's in order of least processed to most. I'd say you got it about right that jelly is pretty much just the juice of the fruit, always crystal clear, whereas jam has actual fruit in it. I think I'd add, though, that jam tends to be less solid/cohesive compared to jelly, and preserves even less so still.
Regarding the sandwich, most people probably won't care too much which of those you use (anyone over the age of 8 anyway). They generally all function the same, and no one's likely to argue with you if you put jam or preserves on a "peanut butter and jelly" sandwich.
Interestingly, at least in the US, grape jelly is the stereotypical version ingredient in the sandwich, which as far as I'm aware is never considered a berry. So yeah, the differences between jam/jelly and other terms seems rather random. (I've never heard of "curd" in this context.)
Well, if we still had blackcurrant in the US, we would have had peanut butter and blackcurrant jelly instead of grape.
I am sure others will have helped with this, but jelly is made from juice or clean non fibrous pulps of fruit, jam all fruit and pulp, macerated, and preserves are fruit with whole pieces, all tending to use added sugar. Marmalade is like preserves but with less or no sugar. as some have mentioned these are gelled with pectin, while the dessert uses gelatin, and is not a food storage method either.
Here in the US there is a difference between Jelly, Jam and Preserves.... the biggest difference between jelly and jam is there's no fruit chunks of any kind in jelly where Jam can include chunks. But there's also starches that are added to jelly that's not added to jam for filler. Jelly is generally your cheapest product where is preserves are the most expensive with jams sitting in the middle.
The reason why jelly seems to be more popular and more widely eaten is because of cost reasons. Since it is the cheapest option it's eaten more in lower income families. Where people who are more concerned with taste and actually having fruit in their spreads go with Jams and Preserves.
I always use preserves or jam instead of jelly for my PB&J. Chunkier and more texture.
The german word for some sort of marmalade is "Gelee" which sounds similar to jelly (well, when the last syllable is longer).
There's an old song that explains the difference: "It must be jelly 'cause jam don't shake like that."
I grew up in New Zealand and my mother made fruit preserves all the time. We had the same definitions as the US, though Jam was far more popular, Jam had seeds in it, jelly did not. That's what I was taught. Jelly is still Gelatin, but you can use the same word for two different things, they're very different after all.
As an American I always refer to a product with pieces of fruit as jam, one that has no chunks of fruit as jelly and the dessert thickened with gelatin as jello.
Jelly is made from fruit juice and contains no particles of fruit. Jam is made from from crushed fruit.
What we call jelly is made from pectin, a plant proteins that plants use to form there structure.
Whet you call jelly we call Jell-o (A trade name that now is used for any brand) or gelatin is made from carotin, an animal proteins that animals use to make skin, hair and finger nails (or hooves).
Jell-o tends to be much more firm than pectin.
Another spread is "preserves" which just uses more crushed fruit and less juice
In my experience, the jam/jelly distinction is something Americans are distantly aware of, but often use interchangeably anyway. And-just berries? You can eat jam or jelly from any fruit (and don't get botanical-colloquially, berries are a sub type of fruit).
I wonder if the company Reckitt would ever make KY Jam?
So in Australia jam would be a spread that is smooth ie no chunks of fruit and a conserve would be a jam that has chunks of fruit in it.
Jam tends to be very sweat and conserve is a bit more tart
me and my british friend done talked about this exact topic and we made a discovery: chips are a reverse example of this case; we always talk about what brits call chips we call fries and what they call crisps we call chips BUT (according to my friend) chips in britain usually refers to the thick cut fried potatoes and you can call the thin cut ones fries. so there’s another one of them 3 way distinction on one side 2 way distinction on the other situation but it’s the brits makin the 3 way distinction this time. also similar to jelly, the chips or thick cut fries ain’t nearly as popular in the states as the thin cut ones lol. any british people who disagree with this lmk your experience!
Jam is very common in the US, only grape and sometimes strawberry are Jellies, almost everything else is jam.
Apple jelly is possible too.
I guess we can chalk this up to America being large and having regional differences, but where I live in California, we tend to use jam and jelly to be pretty much synonymous. If I wanted to refer specifically to the type that had big chunks of fruit in it, THEN, I'd call it preserves. I wouldn't call the smooth type preserves. But, with or without fruit chunks, I use jam and jelly interchangeably. But, yes, we do say jello for gelatin deserts.
I think it’s more your culinary history and background
than geography. I was born in the East Bay, my dad was Texan and mom was of Irish-German extraction from Missouri. We all used “jelly” for clear fruit products. Mom and I used “jam” for unclarified fruit spreads. “Preserves” referred to unclarified spreads with a higher proportion of fruit.
English - berry spread - UK jam/USA jelly
Polish - dżem
English - gelatin - UK jelly/USA jell-o
Polish - galaretka
If we want to make this even more complicated, jam is translated into Finnish as "hillo" or "hilloke" and Jelly is translated as "hyytelö" or "hyydyke" and the difference between these two is explained so that Jelly is thicker than jam and jam is more sauce-like than jelly. And I have no idea where such a translation rule even comes from or who invented it, but for some reason there has been a desire to make a clear distinction between jelly and jam when translating between English and Finnish. In any case, this translation rule doesn't correspond properly to how words are used in English and it confuses.
Thankyou, I'm American and for the life of me I could never remember what the difference between jelly and jam was(in American English).
I just remembered there was a song from the early 20th Century “It must be jam because jelly doesn’t shake like that.” which referred to a woman dancing sexily.
All this jam/jelly talk just made me hungry for a PB&J
Jam is just a popular as jelly in the US. Most people make pbj sandwiches with either grape jelly or strawberry jam. Apple jelly was my favorite as a kid, but it's not quite as popular.
Curds and marmalades are completely different. You could make a lemon marmelade if you like or an orange or lime curd. Curds always include zest and egg yolk and are custardy, while marmelades include the pith and are jammy.
TBF, if my Jelly is not coming from an Aeroplane, I don't want to know about it
You hit the nail on the head as far as I'm concerned.
In common American speech the jam-jelly-preserve distinction is rather fluid. You could very well put jam with peanut butter and call it a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and nobody will be bat an eye. The terms are fairly interchangeable with a general sense that jam is more rustic and natural while jelly is more processed.
The difference between jelly and jam is the consistency, as you touched on. Jam is thicker than jelly, then there is preserves if there are chunks of fruit in it. Orange preserved with strips of fruit or skin is marmalade.
In Poland we cal it jam and jelly, because one is jam and the other one is heavy on... gelatine, The names are dżem and galaretka
Preserve/Conserve/Jam/Extra Jam have specific EU meanings relating to fruit content and sugar content.
As far as I've gathered being from the U.S. it goes Jelly > Jam > Preserves, Jelly having no fruit remnants, and Preserves having whole fruit remnants, while Jam is somewhere in between.
"Jam" and "jelly" are used somewhat interchangeably. However, this is usually in reference to the dish itself as it is still referred to as a peanut butter and jelly regardless of whether it actually has jelly, jam, or preserves. Others have already noted the difference between the three, so I won't bore you there.
Speaking as a west coast Canadian, I call all fruit preserves jam and call what the UK would call jelly, jell-o. I think the only time I use jelly in any context is when saying PP&J. Idk if all Canadians do this though.
Honestly, I've lived in the US my entire life, but I've almost exclusively had what Americans call "jam," and only very rarely have I had our version of "jelly." Part of that, though is that I've pretty much only ever had homemade jams that my mom cans from the raspberries and fruit trees in my parents' backyard, so there just hasn't been reason to bother with buying things from the store…
…I just realized as I wrote this that I should probably learn how to do canning myself at some point, as a precautionary measure…Memento mori!
Jam has fruit chunks in it, Jelly doesn’t
The Quangle Wangle said
To himself on the Crumpetty Tree:
"Jam; and jelly; and bread;
Are the best of food for me!
But the longer I live on this Crumpetty Tree
The plainer than ever it seems to me
That very few people come this way
And that life on the whole is far from gay!"
Said the Quangle Wangle Quee.
From The Quangle Wangle's Hat by Edward Lear.
I'd assumed the same thing about jam and jelly as an Australian
For many Americans jelly is the generic term for sll fruit preserves. The difference between jam and jelly is a legal distinction for product labeling. No ine would be surprised to see either in a pb&j sandwich.
did you dub your voice?
kinda sounds dubbed xD
As I don't eat either of these to speak of, I couldn't care less what they're called (I do eat JellO though; never realized it was "jelly" in the UK)
American here, a jelly is smooth and extra sugary, a jam isn't as sweet and is more coarse often including bits of the base fruit. Jello is interchangeable with gelatin, but Jell-o is the name brand.
Does nt Jellyfish have the word Jelly aswell??
ordinarily you have a 50-50 chance of figuring out if its jam or jelly; but once you add marmalade into the mix, your odds drastically go down. (Steiner Math)