What is the difference between a jam, a preserve, and a marmalade?
Both jams and preserves are made from the pulp of the fruit. Preserves have large chucks of the base fruit in them while jams are processed finer. In general a jam is more difficult to make than a preserve because the fruit pulp has to be fully blended until a uniform smooth consistency is reached. Jams are typically superior to preserves because the finer texture of jams makes them easier to spread and gives them a smoother more consistent flavor. Marmalades are made from citrus fruits (oranges, lemons, etc.) and often incorporate slices of peel into the product. Also, sometimes you will see what appears to be jam in the supermarket labeled and a ‘preserve’ or a ‘spread’ instead of being called a jam. This is because the FDA is defined what a ‘jam’ is and what a product must contain in order to be labeled a jam. Basically, a jam has a lot more fruit in it than a ‘preserve’. In fact, if you buy a ‘preserve’ in the grocery store, it is not uncommon for it to contain more water (as a sup
