If your butter isn’t made from apples, pears, peaches, grapes, apricots, plums, quince or prunes, then it cannot technically be labeled fruit butter under FDA rules. That’s what you get when a processed-until-smooth coulis continues to be slowly cooked down until much of the moisture is evaporated out. Containing less sugar and more dietary fiber per serving, both apricot jam and jams in general are more healthful than marmalade.

One tablespoon of orange marmalade contains 49 calories, negligible amounts of protein and fat, 0.1 grams of fiber, 12 grams of sugar and 13.3 grams of carbohydrates.

Because of the importance of peels, marmalades are made exclusively from citrus fruits, while jams can be made from almost any fruits and vegetables. We demystify the terms.

As fruit ripens on the vine, branch or bush, the pectin within is broken down by enzymes naturally present in the fruit itself. Microsoft may earn an Affiliate Commission if you purchase something through recommended links in this article.

Jelly. Both are mixtures of fruit and sugar that eschew pectin in favor of a drawn-out, slow cooking method.

It’s actually a conserve.

Fruit spread/ spreadable fruit In fact, like squares and rhombuses, all conserves are jams, but not all jams are conserves.

What’s the difference between jam, jelly and preserves? A quick breakfast of toast and jam sounds simple enough, right? As the pectin content diminishes, the fruit softens and eventually rots.

Pears, apples, apricots and even pumpkin are cooked down to pulp (pectin is rarely added) and passed through a sieve, sweetened with either sugar or juice and sometimes enhanced with warm spices (particularly cinnamon). Most are fat-free but are sweetened with everything from corn syrup to fruit juice concentrate to artificial sweeteners. Once cooled, jam takes on a translucent quality. The Skinny on Preserves, Jams, and Jellies, Free to join, free month, plus a free Kickstart kit. Marmalade is made by adding tiny pieces of fruit rind – most famously, orange – to a jelly mixture made from citrus juice, sugar and pectin. Traditionally sweetened with sugar, fruit juice-sweetened varieties are easy to find at most supermarkets. Or combine with mustard for a ham glaze.

The good news about luscious fruit butters is that they have the velvety mouth feel of butter without any actual butter! However, to qualify as a jam under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines, a product must still contain more than 55% sugar.