Jam, Jelly or Preserves? Memories?
By lisado
@lisado (1227)
United States
January 29, 2007 7:00am CST
Which do you prefer and why? My MIL said that jam is made with fruit juice, which is why it is generally seedless and cheaper than the other two. Jelly is made with some fruit, but it's mashed pretty fine. Preserves has hunks of fruit still in it, make it the more expensive of the three. Do you have a favorite flavor or specific choice? Can you make your own at home?
My mom made Strawberry Jam years ago. I remember spending hot weekends out in the sun, picking our own berries from the berry patch near our home. She wouldn't buy berries from the store. They weren't as good and it was to expensive. We'd spend the next day washing, trimming up and mashing strawberries and then boiling the jars to tighten down the lids. My brother's job was to sit on the porch out back and listen for the lids to "pop" when they had cooled, to show they were sealed and ready to be put away.
Anyone else have memories like this?
4 people like this
8 responses
@deebomb (15304)
• United States
29 Jan 07
According to the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Properly, the term jam refers to a product made with whole fruit,
"Good jelly is clear and sparkling and has a fresh flavor of the fruit from which it is made I always prefered jams my self.I like the home made ones better than the purched ones. Home made is softer nd easier to spread.
I lived with mt grandmother for a few years and she taught me how to can make pickles and jams and jellies. We would find the wild choke cherry bushes and fill our buskets I hated to pick them. It was fun when we first started. It took forever to fill a bucket They have bitter tast when eaten raw but make a fantastic jam. The native americans used them in their preserved pamican.
2 people like this
@albert2412 (1782)
• United States
2 Feb 07
When I was a little boy, we had three large sugar fig trees in the backyard. We would gather up the figs and mother would make jar after jar of fig preserves. All year long we would eat these fig preserves. I wish that I could enjoy some now and give you some so that you could see how good they were.
@bunnylady01 (483)
• United States
30 Jan 07
I prefer jam over jelly because I like the pieces of fruit in it. I can remember when I was younger we use to go strawberry, blueberry and peach picking every year. Then come home and the first night have strawberry shortcake then the next day we would turn them all into jam. It took days but was so wonderful to eat fresh made jam. The peaches also were canned for fruit during the winter.
1 person likes this
@ShadyGrove (996)
• United States
29 Jan 07
My favorites are Grape Jelly or Strawberry Jam ~ Putting them on warm homemade bisquits are just wonderful.
That is a great memory that you have. I will buy homemade at fairs and such, but have never made any myself.
1 person likes this
@kelly60 (4546)
• United States
31 Jan 07
Jelly is mostly what I like the best because it has no seeds, but I don't mind jam or preserves if they have some fruit and no seeds in them. I like the fruit, just not the seeds because of digestive problems.
I remember as a kid picking strawberries and getting them ready to help my mom make strawberry freezer jam. It's the best jam I've ever eaten. I've made it myself a few times, but it was never as good as hers. It was still pretty good though. I haven't had it in years. I'll have to take the kids strawberry picking this year.
