The Difference Between Fruit Butters, Jams, Conserves, Jellies, Marmalades, & Preserves

In our modern age I've come to find out that there are people who've never heard of fruit preserves & conserves.  I've even been asked from time to time what the difference is between jam & jelly.  So here are the definitions... 

Fruit Butters

Fruit Butter is made by cooking fruit pulp and sugar to a thick consistency that will spread easily.  Butters are cooked slowly until thick enough to round up on a spoon.

Jelly

Juice strained from fruit is used to make jelly. It is usually crystal clear and shimmering. Jelly is gelatinized enough to hold its shape when removed from the jar, yet soft enough to spread easily.  Flowers that can be made into juice (Sorrel) or tea (Rose-Hip pods & Hibiscus) can be made into jelly by themselves or combined with fruit juice.

Jams

Jams are jellies with crushed or chopped fruit.

Conserves

Conserves are jam-like products made with a combination of two or more fruits, nuts and raisins.  If nuts are used, they can be added during the last five minutes of cooking.

Marmalade

Marmalade is made from the peel & juice of citrus fruits boiled with sugar and water.  It contains pieces of fruit and peel in the transparent jelly.  It can be made from lemons, limes, grapefruits, mandarins, sweet oranges, bergamots and other citrus fruits, or any combination thereof.  Marmalades are similar in structure to jam. 

(On a personal note I recommend that you google a marmalade recipe & make your own marmalade before buying it because I've heard that the marmalade in stores are flavorless & just bad.  People who've only had store bought marmalade claimed to hate it but loved mine.)

Preserves

Fruit is preserved with sugar so it retains its shape, is transparent, shiny, tender and plump. The syrup varies from the thickness of honey to that of soft jelly. A true preserve does not hold its shape when spooned from the jar.

Sorrel Juice

What can I say except that I've been converted to sorrel.  Its good and good for you.  It reduces high blood pressure and acts like an air conditioner whether you're suffering from a fever or even if it's just an unbearably hot day, it will cool you down.  Usually sorrel packages come with instructions in the back but if it doesn't here's a very simple & basic recipe.

Sorrel steeping with a stick of
cinnamon.  (No, I'm not canning
it.  I just like steeping in glass as
opposed to plastic.)

Sorrel Juice
ingredients:

• 1/4 cup of dried sorrel blooms
• 4 cups of water
• 1 cinnamon stick
• sugar or honey to taste 

1, Boil the water and steep the sorrel blooms & cinnamon stick for at least 4 hours.  (Some like to steep overnight.)

2, Strain out the blooms & cinnamon stick, sweeten  and enjoy. Now seriously, how easy is that?

__________________________________________

I've been coming across the medical benefits of this delicious juice.  If you're interested, click on one of the links below...

http://doctorschar.com/features/jamacian-sorrel/

http://health.wikinut.com/Health-Benefits-of-Sorrel-Roselle/12f7l1qa/

http://www.ageless.co.za/rosella.htm 

http://caribrock.blogspot.com/2008/12/health-benefits-of-jamaican-sorrel.html

Juice Jelly

Sorrel Jelly made with this Juice Jelly recipe

Granted I did play around with the original recipe a little, I used golden brown sugar instead of white and I made my own juice from dried sorrel flowers instead of just using fruit juice.  But still I recommend that you give this a try because you can make it in any flavor you like.  It's for that reason that I'm giving just the basic recipe for juice jelly.  I found this recipe at cooks.com, here's the link.  It was originally a raspberry juice jelly. 


Juice Jelly

• 2 cups of fruit juice

• 4 cups of golden brown sugar

• 2 (3 oz.) pkg.s liquid fruit pectin

In an *oversized pot, combine juice and sugar. Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and bring to a rolling boil.

Stir in pectin. Stirring constantly, bring to a rolling boil again and boil 1 minute longer.

Remove from heat, skim off foam. Store in sealed jars. If you're not familiar with canning, here's a link to a good site that shows you how.

Yield: 2 pints.

I used Certo pectin.

*I specified an oversized pot because in order to activate pectin, you HAVE to let it boil in a good hard rolling boil for a minute or it won't set right.  In an oversized pot the boiling liquid won't overflow into a mess.