What is the difference between jam, jelly, preserves, conserve, marmalade and fruit butter?
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The difference is mostly what happens to the fruit. Jelly is made from strained juice, so it is clear with no pieces. Jam is made from crushed or chopped fruit. Preserves hold whole fruit or large pieces. Marmalade is a citrus preserve that includes the peel. Fruit butter is fruit cooked down to a smooth, thick spread [1][2]. A conserve is a chunky jam style, usually with dried fruit or nuts. In US law, jam and preserves share one standard, and jelly and fruit butter have their own; marmalade, conserve and fruit spread have none [1]. This page describes each style and gives the federal definitions in brief.
The styles side by side
| Style | Made from | What it looks like | Federal standard of identity? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jelly | Fruit juice strained free of pulp [1][2] | Clear, holds its shape when cut, no fruit or seeds | Yes, fruit jelly: 21 CFR 150.140 [3] |
| Jam | Crushed or chopped fruit [1] | Spreadable; fruit pieces "soft and nearly formless" [2] | Yes, with preserves: 21 CFR 150.160 [4] |
| Preserves | Whole fruit or large pieces in a jellied syrup [2] | Distinct pieces or whole small fruit | Yes, the same standard as jam [4] |
| Marmalade | Citrus fruit, including the peel [1][2] | Translucent jelly with suspended peel | No [1] |
| Conserve | A jam style, often mixed fruits with dried fruit or nuts | Chunky, often darker and richer | No [1] |
| Fruit butter | Fruit pulp cooked long and smooth, often spiced [1][2] | Thick, opaque, smooth, no pieces | Yes, for eight named fruits: 21 CFR 150.110 [5] |
| Fruit spread | Any of the above made with less sugar, or with ingredients outside a standard | Varies | No; it is a descriptive name, not a standard [1] |
Jelly: made from strained juice
Jelly starts with juice. You cook the fruit, let the juice drip through a jelly bag, and cook the clear juice with sugar (and pectin, if the fruit needs it) until it gels. Penn State's definition is jelly "made from filtered fruit juice with no pieces of fruit or seeds present" [1]. A good jelly is clear and quivers when you turn it out, which is why extraction and straining matter so much more for jelly than for jam. The method is on how to make jelly.
The federal standard for fruit jelly lists more than 30 permitted fruit juices, alone or in combinations of two to five, and names the product "Jelly" with the fruit, as in "grape jelly" [3]. It also has two flavoring allowances that matter to home cooks who sell: mint flavoring with artificial green coloring is allowed in jelly made from apple, crabapple or pineapple juice, and cinnamon flavoring with artificial red coloring in apple or crabapple jelly [3]. Jellies made from things that are not fruit, such as herbs or wine, fall under FDA's policy for nonstandardized jellies: they should reach 65 percent soluble solids and be named "jelly" with the name of the flavor source [6]. Those are covered on herb, flower, tea and wine jellies.
Jam and preserves: one standard, two styles
In the kitchen, jam and preserves differ in how much the fruit is broken down. New Mexico State describes jam as fruit cooked thick so the pieces are "soft and nearly formless," and preserves as similar to jam but with large chunks or whole fruit [2]. Preserves need a gentler hand: fruit is often plumped in syrup so it stays whole and does not float. The fixes for floating or shriveled fruit are on floating, tough or shriveled fruit.
In federal law, the distinction disappears. A single standard, 21 CFR 150.160, covers "fruit preserves and jams," and the label may use either "Preserve" or "Jam" [4]. The standard sets three things a seller must meet:
- A fruit floor. At least 47 parts fruit to 55 parts sugar by weight for the fruits in the standard's Group I, and 45 to 55 for Group II [4]. Some common fruits, apple among them, are in neither group.
- A sugar concentration. At least 65 percent soluble solids in the finished jam, measured by refractometer [4].
- A closed list of extras. Optional ingredients are limited to things like sweeteners, spice, acid, pectin (only to make up for a shortfall in the fruit's own pectin), buffering agents, preservatives and antifoaming agents not derived from animal fat [4].
That is the short version. The ratios and full fruit lists are on how much fruit the law requires, and the optional ingredients on what a jam you sell can contain.
Artificially sweetened jam: a former standard
Older references mention a separate federal standard for "artificially sweetened fruit preserves and jams," 21 CFR 150.161. As printed in the April 1, 1996 edition of the CFR, it named saccharin as the only artificial sweetener, required fruit to be at least 55 percent of the finished food, and began the name with the words "artificially sweetened" [7]. That section is no longer in the current CFR: Part 150, Subpart B now contains only the fruit butter, fruit jelly and fruit preserves and jams standards [9]. Treat 150.161 as history. A jam sweetened with saccharin, sucralose, stevia or another substitute today is sold under an informative name; the rules live on what you can call your jam.
Marmalade: citrus with its peel
Marmalade is made from citrus fruit, including the peel [1]. The peel gives it bitterness and texture, and supplies much of its pectin, since most fruit pectin sits in the peel or rind [1]. It has no federal standard of identity [1], so the name "marmalade" is not tied to a fruit ratio or a soluble solids figure. If you call a citrus product "orange jam" instead, it falls under the jam standard, which lists orange, grapefruit and tangerine among its Group I fruits; lemon and lime appear in neither group [4]. The method, peel preparation and the Seville orange season are on how to make marmalade.
Conserve: jam with company
Conserves are a jam style, usually two or more fruits, often with dried fruit, citrus, nuts or a splash of spirit. Penn State notes that conserves have no standard of identity and do not require soluble solids testing [1]. That freedom has a cost if you sell: nuts and spirits are not on the jam standard's list of optional ingredients [4], so a conserve cannot be sold as "jam," and nuts bring allergen labeling. Adding nuts or spirits safely within a tested recipe is covered on conserves with nuts, dried fruit and spirits.
Fruit butter: cooked down until thick
Fruit butter is a smooth, semisolid fruit mixture with no pieces, often spiced [1]. It thickens by long, slow evaporation of fruit pulp rather than by a pectin gel. Its federal standard, 21 CFR 150.110, is narrower than most people expect:
- It covers eight fruits: apple, apricot, grape, peach, pear, plum (other than prune), prune and quince, alone or in combinations of two to five [5].
- It needs at least 5 parts fruit to 2 parts sweetener by weight [5].
- It needs at least 43 percent soluble solids, much lower than jam's 65 [5].
- It is named Butter, with the fruit's name, as in Apple Butter [5].
Pumpkin is not on that list, and pumpkin butter is a different case altogether: NCHFP warns that there is no tested home canning process for it because pumpkin is a low-acid food [8]. The reasons and the safe alternatives are on pumpkin butter and other low-acid spreads, and making apple and other fruit butters on apple butter and other fruit butters.
Fruit spread and other names outside the standards
"Fruit spread" is what a product is usually called when it does not meet a standard. Penn State gives the rule for nonstandard products: anything below 65 percent soluble solids, or made from fruits outside the standard's groups, "must be informatively labeled so as not to claim to be a standard jam or jelly," with "Strawberry Fruit Spread" as the example [1]. Most low-sugar jams made with calcium-set pectin end up here. Penn State also notes that "Reduced Sugar" can be placed before "Jam" or "Jelly" on a label [1].
At home, none of this changes how you cook. It matters the day you put a label on a jar for sale.
| You make | At home, call it | If you sell it, the label may need to say |
|---|---|---|
| Full-sugar strawberry jam that meets the standard | Strawberry jam | Strawberry Jam (or Preserves) |
| Low-sugar strawberry jam with calcium-set pectin, under 65 percent | Low-sugar jam | Strawberry Fruit Spread, or another informative name [1] |
| Orange marmalade | Marmalade | Orange Marmalade (no standard applies) [1] |
| Pear and walnut conserve | Conserve | Pear Walnut Conserve, with nut allergen labeling |
| Mint-flavored apple jelly | Mint jelly | Apple jelly with mint flavor is within the jelly standard [3] |
| Pumpkin butter | Pumpkin butter, refrigerated or frozen | Not a shelf-stable product in home canning [8] |
Choosing what to make, and what to call it
If you are deciding what to cook, the practical split is juice or fruit: jelly asks you to extract and strain juice, everything else starts with the fruit itself. If you are deciding what to call a product you sell, the rules are on what you can call your jam, which covers standardized names, informative names and reduced sugar.
References
- Penn State Extension, 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
- New Mexico State University Extension, Flores and Davies, *Making Jam, Jelly, and Sweet Spreads at Home*, Guide E-314, revised February 2016. https://pubs.nmsu.edu/_e/E314
- 21 CFR 150.140, Fruit jelly (Cornell LII, current eCFR text). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/21/150.140
- 21 CFR 150.160, Fruit preserves and jams (Cornell LII, current eCFR text). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/21/150.160
- 21 CFR 150.110, Fruit butter (Cornell LII, current eCFR text). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/21/150.110
- FDA, *CPG Sec. 550.475 Jellies, Nonstandardized*, revised May 2005, updated November 29, 2005. https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents/cpg-sec-550475-jellies-nonstandardized
- 21 CFR 150.161, Artificially sweetened fruit preserves and jams, Code of Federal Regulations, April 1, 1996 edition (govinfo; former section, no longer in the current CFR). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-1996-title21-vol2/html/CFR-1996-title21-vol2-sec150-161.htm
- National Center for Home Food Preservation, *Beware: Pumpkin Butter* (blog), December 7, 2012. https://nchfp.uga.edu/blog/beware-pumpkin-butter
- 21 CFR Part 150, Subpart B, Requirements for Specific Standardized Fruit Butters, Jellies, Preserves, and Related Products (Cornell LII, current eCFR text: 150.110, 150.140, 150.160). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/21/part-150/subpart-B
