Jam On It: A Sticky Subject?

The other day I was watching Barefoot Contessa (starring my favorite nervous giggler slash chef Ina Garten) and she was making a dish (no doubt for her gays: Miguel, Frank, Stephen and TR) that required Apricot Jelly. All of a sudden, she throws out the option to use Apricot JAM if you can't find Apricot JELLY!

At that moment, at that very moment, I had the revelation that for my 37 years and 3 months of living, I have never ever realized there is a difference between Jam and Jelly. Which got me thinking that this is something that should be researched immediately because you know and I know that you have secretly always wondered what the big friggin' difference was, but were too afraid to ask and does it matter because you always buy whatever is on sale or Smuckers anyway???

So, here you go.

Jelly, Jam and Preserves are all made from fruit mixed with sugar and pectin. The difference between them comes in the form that the fruit takes. Specifically, the fruit in jelly comes in the form of fruit juice. Jam, on the other hand, uses fruit pulp or crushed fruit, which explains why it's "less stiff" than jelly. Finally, in fancy-pants Preserves, the fruit comes in syrup-laden chunks.

And all my life I thought Marmalade was just Jelly that was made in England instead of the Smucker's plant here in the states. WRONG. Marmalade is a citrus-based preserve, containing the rind.

So besides having to thank Ina for her Sole Meuniere and her Gratin and her expressions like "How bad can THAT be?!" or "Don't have fun without me!" and of course her entourage of gays (she doesn't have any other friends, although I question TR's intentions with Ina, I really do but that's another blog), I have this to thank her for too.