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Jam and preserves
Learn›Industries›Food and Beverage›Jams and preserves›14. What to Call It and What the Label Says›What to call your jamShop all jams and preserves →

Can I call it jam, preserves, fruit spread or something else?

By Dwight Davis, Founder

Updated

On this page7

You can call your product "jam" or "preserves" only if it meets the federal standard: enough fruit by weight (45 or 47 parts fruit to 55 parts sugar, depending on the fruit), only the ingredients the standard allows, and at least 65 percent soluble solids [1]. "Jelly" and "fruit butter" have their own standards with the same kind of conditions [2][3]. Anything that misses, such as a low-sugar spread, a jelly made from peppers or a jam with walnuts, needs an honest descriptive name instead, and "fruit spread" is the usual one [4]. This page sorts your product into the right name and shows how to pick a brand name that will not get you a letter from a lawyer.

Four names the law owns, and the many it doesn't

Federal rules fix the meaning of a short list of words. When a food has a standard of identity, the label must use the name the regulation gives it, and a food that uses that name must meet the standard [5]. For sweet spreads, the standards live in 21 CFR Part 150:

  • Preserves and jam are one standard, 21 CFR 150.160. The regulation treats the two words as interchangeable: the name "is "Preserve" or "Jam"" [1]. There is no legal difference between a jam and a preserve in the United States, whatever your grandmother meant by them.
  • Jelly is 21 CFR 150.140, made from fruit juice rather than fruit [2].
  • Fruit butter is 21 CFR 150.110, limited to eight fruits: apple, apricot, grape, peach, pear, plum, prune and quince [3].

That is the whole list. The current text of Part 150, Subpart B, contains those three sections and nothing else [6]. Marmalade, conserve, fruit spread, fruit compote and fruit curd have no federal standard of identity, so no recipe rule attaches to the word itself [4]. That freedom cuts both ways: you can sell a soft-set "Seville Orange Marmalade" without a soluble-solids reading, but you cannot borrow the word "jam" for a product that does not meet 150.160.

Find your product in this table

What you madeName you can useWhy
A full-sugar jam from one fruit on the Group I or Group II list, at the fruit floor and 65 percent soluble solids"Strawberry Jam" or "Strawberry Preserves"Meets 150.160 [1]
The same, from two to five listed fruits"Mixed Fruit Jam," or the fruits named in order of weight, such as "Strawberry Rhubarb Jam"Names must follow "the order of predominance, if any, of the weights of such fruits" [1]
Apple with other fruits"Apple Raspberry Jam," with apple no more than half the fruitApple is allowed in jam only in combination, "the weight of apple is not more than one-half" [1]
A jelly from a fruit on the 150.140 list, at 45:55 and 65 percent"Grape Jelly"Meets 150.140 [2]
A fruit jelly from a fruit not on that list, such as huckleberry, at 45:55 and 65 percent"Huckleberry Jelly"FDA's policy on nonstandardized jellies accepts the fruit name with "jelly" when the product follows 45:55 and 65 percent [7]
A pepper, wine, herb or flower jelly"Hot Pepper Jelly," "Merlot Jelly," with the flavor source namedNonfruit jellies should reach 65 percent soluble solids and carry the name of the flavor source [7][4]. Pepper jelly has its own safety and legal questions on the pepper jelly page
A spread below 65 percent, made with low- or no-sugar pectin"Strawberry Fruit Spread"Below the standard; Penn State gives this as the example of an informative name [4]
A spread sweetened with sucralose, stevia, monk fruit or allulose"Fruit Spread," with the sweetener named in the ingredientsNo standard covers it (see the next section)
A fruit butter from apple, apricot, grape, peach, pear, plum, prune or quince at 5:2 and 43 percent"Apple Butter"Meets 150.110 [3]
A "butter" from any other fruit, such as blueberry or mangoA descriptive name such as "Blueberry Spread"; confirm the wording with your state agencyOutside the eight fruits of 150.110 [3]
A jam with nuts, raisins or a spirit"Conserve," or a descriptive name such as "Peach Bourbon Spread"Nuts and spirits are not on the 150.160 ingredient list [1]; see conserves
A citrus preserve with peel"Marmalade"No federal standard [4]

Two cautions sit under the table. First, "fruit spread" is honest but it is not a legal safe harbor. It tells the buyer your product is not standardized jam; it does not make an untested low-sugar recipe shelf stable. Second, many cottage food laws allow "jams and jellies" and nothing else, and a product renamed "fruit spread" may fall outside them. Michigan's cottage food list, for example, allows fruit jams and jellies but no low- or no-sugar jams, vegetable or nonfruit jams, or fruit butters [8], and Washington limits cottage jam to products that meet the federal standards in Part 150 [13]. Check what cottage food laws often exclude before you plan a low-sugar line.

"Reduced sugar" and "artificially sweetened"

Reduced sugar. Penn State's commercial primer says "Reduced Sugar" may precede "Jam" or "Jelly" on the label [4]. That wording is also a nutrient content claim, and FDA defines it: a "reduced sugar" food must contain at least 25 percent less sugar per reference amount customarily consumed (the standard serving FDA sets) than an appropriate reference food, and the label must name that reference food and the percentage difference next to the claim [9]. Two consequences follow. You need nutrition data to prove the 25 percent, and the claim costs you the small business exemption from the Nutrition Facts panel, because a nutrient content claim on the label makes the exemption inapplicable [10]. The Nutrition Facts page works through that trade.

"Low sugar" is a different matter. It is not one of the sugar claims FDA's rule defines; the defined terms are "sugar free," "no added sugar," and "reduced sugar" with its synonyms such as "less sugar" [9]. Treat "low sugar" on a label as a claim you cannot support, and say what the product is instead: "Strawberry Fruit Spread, made with less sugar than our jam" still makes a comparison claim, so the safest label simply names the product and lets the ingredient list speak.

Artificially sweetened. Older editions of the Code of Federal Regulations carried a separate standard, 21 CFR 150.161, for "artificially sweetened fruit preserves and jams." It allowed only saccharin ("saccharin, sodium saccharin, calcium saccharin"), required fruit to be "not less than 55 percent by weight of the finished food," and required the name to begin with "artificially sweetened" [11]. The current Part 150 no longer contains that section; Subpart B now runs from 150.110 to 150.160 [6]. So there is no standardized name for a jam sweetened with sucralose, stevia, monk fruit or allulose. Sell it under a descriptive name such as "Raspberry Fruit Spread," name the sweetener in the ingredient list, and confirm the wording with the agency that reviews your labels. The recipe side of those sweeteners lives on sugar substitutes in jam.

FDA has been clearing out standards it considers obsolete. Its July 2025 direct final rule removed eleven standards for canned fruits and vegetables in Parts 145 and 155 and did not touch Part 150 [12]. The jam, jelly and fruit butter standards stood as of October 2026. Check the current text before you print a large label run.

A brand or product name such as "Sunday Morning" or "Orchard Gold" is fine, and FDA's identity rule allows a fanciful name when the nature of the food is obvious [5]. For a standardized food it is never enough on its own. The statement of identity (the common name, such as "Apricot Jam") must appear on the front panel in bold type, in a size "reasonably related to the most prominent printed matter" on that panel, in lines generally parallel to the base of the jar [5]. A label that says "Orchard Gold" in 40-point script and "apricot jam" in 6-point type underneath fails that test.

Naming the fruit honestly matters too. If you call it "Strawberry Rhubarb Jam," strawberry must be the larger share by weight, because the names run in order of predominance [1]. If you made it with more rhubarb than strawberry, it is "Rhubarb Strawberry Jam," however the market sign reads.

Checking a brand name before you print

A name you love can belong to someone else. Before you buy labels, a domain or a market banner:

  1. Search the federal trademark register. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office runs a free public search of registered and pending marks. Search the exact name, close spellings, and the name with "jam," "preserves" and "foods." A registered mark for any food or beverage is a warning sign, not only one for jam.
  2. Search your state's business entity and trade name records. Another business may use the name without a federal registration and still hold rights in its area.
  3. Search the web and the marketplaces where jam sells. Etsy shops, farm stands and specialty food shops often use names that never reach a register.
  4. Avoid names that describe a quality you cannot prove. A brand name such as "Sugar Free Sam's" is still a sugar claim, and "sugar free" has a federal definition you would have to meet [9].
  5. Talk to a trademark attorney before you invest heavily. Do it before the label order, not after the cease-and-desist letter. This page describes how to check; it does not decide whether a name is safe to use.

Checking the fruit floor before you print "jam"

Once you know which name you want, the next question is whether your recipe earns it. The fruit-to-sugar ratio, the Group I and Group II lists and the mixed-fruit rules are worked through, with examples, on how much fruit the law requires in jam. The 65 percent reading that finishes the test is on what 65 percent soluble solids means.

References

  1. Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, 21 CFR 150.160, Fruit preserves and jams (current text, last amended 63 FR 14035, March 24, 1998), accessed October 2026. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/21/150.160
  2. Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, 21 CFR 150.140, Fruit jelly (current text), accessed October 2026. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/21/150.140
  3. Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, 21 CFR 150.110, Fruit butter (current text), accessed October 2026. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/21/150.110
  4. Penn State Extension (L. LaBorde), Food for Profit: Commercial Production of Jams, Jellies, and Fruit Butters, updated May 24, 2024. https://extension.psu.edu/food-for-profit-commercial-production-of-jams-jellies-and-fruit-butters
  5. eCFR, 21 CFR 101.3, Identity labeling of food in packaged form, up to date as of October 20, 2026. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-101/subpart-A/section-101.3
  6. Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, 21 CFR Part 150, Subpart B, Requirements for Specific Standardized Fruit Butters, Jellies, Preserves, and Related Products (sections 150.110 to 150.160), accessed October 2026. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/21/part-150/subpart-B
  7. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, CPG Sec. 550.475 Jellies, Nonstandardized, issued October 1, 1980, revised May 2005, updated November 29, 2005. https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents/cpg-sec-550475-jellies-nonstandardized
  8. Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, What Can I Make? (cottage food), not dated (viewed 2026). https://www.michigan.gov/mdard/food-dairy/cottage-food/what-can-i-make
  9. eCFR, 21 CFR 101.60, Nutrient content claims for the calorie content of foods, paragraph (c), sugar content claims, up to date as of October 20, 2026. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-101/subpart-D/section-101.60
  10. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Small Business Nutrition Labeling Exemption Guide, content current as of October 5, 2026. https://www.fda.gov/food/labeling-nutrition-guidance-documents-regulatory-information/small-business-nutrition-labeling-exemption-guide
  11. U.S. Government Publishing Office, 21 CFR 150.161, Artificially sweetened fruit preserves and jams, Code of Federal Regulations, April 1, 1996 edition (historical text). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-1996-title21-vol2/html/CFR-1996-title21-vol2-sec150-161.htm
  12. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Revocation of Food Standards for 11 Products Not Currently Sold, direct final rule, 90 FR 33268, July 17, 2025 (Docket FDA-2025-N-1184). https://downloads.regulations.gov/FDA-2025-N-1184-0002/content.html
  13. Washington State Register, WSR 16-06-014, amendments to WAC 16-149 (cottage food operations), including WAC 16-149-120(3), 2016. https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/Law/WSR/2016/06/16-06-014.htm
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