# What's the difference between Jam, Jelly, and Marmalade? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 19, 2013, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-jam-jelly-and-marmalade/647663 "2013-01-19T00:06:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Thylacine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thylacine/32/1143_2.png) [@Thylacine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thylacine)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-jam-jelly-and-marmalade/647663/101 "2013-01-23T19:02:59Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > I don’t know if Peanut Butter and Jam sandwiches are a thing here - I’ve certainly never seen an adult eating one. (I’m sure, as with everything else I post here, someone will be along shortly to tell me that I’m completely wrong and every single person in the universe except me does in fact do whatever thing it is that I’ve never seen anyone doing). Sorry, middle aged Aussie here and I suspect it was the influence of US TV but I loved PB and jam or PB and honey sangas growing up, now I love the combo of a crunchy PB with a chunky ginger marmalade, it bites back. My mother used to send me to school with butter, honey and dried fruit sandwiches though so my tastes got a little skewed. It took me several years to break my partner of a butter and PB habit, that made no sense to me at all. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-jam-jelly-and-marmalade/647663/102 "2013-01-23T19:26:58Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I think that in Britain their gelatin dessert comes in condensed gelatinous cubes rather than in powdered form. That’s the commonest way, yes- though vegetarian UK jelly sometimes comes in powder form. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-jam-jelly-and-marmalade/647663/103 "2013-01-23T19:52:04Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > Butter on cold sandwiches isn’t weird - I’ve known plenty of people who do that - but it _is_ disgusting. My grandpa got me hooked on a specific sandwich using butter on cold sandwiches 1. butter 2 slices of bread (a little thicker than you normally would–not just a scraping. 2. white (or failing that, red) onions–they need to be sharp for this, not the vidalia kind. 3. thin sliced rare roast beef 4. (optional…for me. Mandatory for him) thinly sliced tomato 5. Lettuce–crispy is more important that flavor, so iceburg or romaine Sometimes he’d put a dash of horseradish on, but only if the onion was “weak”. The butter+the onion is really good. I still eat this one. He’d also eat just plain butter and onion sandwiches (fairly thick rings of onion–like 1/4") that’s…edible but not good (IMO). The trick is the butter has to be like peanut-butter thickly spread. ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-jam-jelly-and-marmalade/647663/104 "2013-01-23T21:35:37Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > This discussion reminds me of a dessert my mother used to make. > > Back in the 1970s, when mums still stayed at home, it was normal in the UK to have dessert with every meal, and my mum was always scratching around for cheap and easy ideas. We would be presented with such things as chopped up bananas in warm custard, or a tin of raspberries poured over vanilla ice cream. Our favourite was [jelly and blancmange](http://squirrelbasket.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/things-of-the-past-jelly-and-blancmange/), which was the biggest lump of gooey, slurpy, sweet stuff you can imagine: Basically a layer of jelly with a layer of pink blancmange on top. You certainly didn’t need teeth to eat it. > > I’d hate it now. I remember a butterscotch flavour Sainsbury’s 'Angel Delight’ish dessert which was served after a gammon and pineapple main course which was _de rigueur_ in the seventies. Obviously, being middle class, the grapefruit for starters had to be grilled with brown sugar. Abigail’s got a lot to answer for… ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-jam-jelly-and-marmalade/647663/105 "2013-01-23T22:29:31Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > it was normal in the UK to have dessert with every meal Yes but did you call it _sweet_ or _afters_? ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-jam-jelly-and-marmalade/647663/106 "2013-01-23T22:55:41Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Yes but did you call it _sweet_ or _afters_? Pudding of course! ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-jam-jelly-and-marmalade/647663/107 "2013-01-23T23:02:49Z")
> [@MarcusF](#): > > Pudding of course! :smack: I knew I’d forget one! I wonder if there’s an isogloss for sweet/afters/pudding/dessert/etc. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-jam-jelly-and-marmalade/647663/108 "2013-01-24T02:30:31Z")
OK, I asked my mom about her jellies and jams. She says that several fruits, including apples, pears, and blackberries, don’t need any added pectin; others, such as peach, need pectin if you’re making jelly but not if you’re making jam; and some, such as elderberries, need an extra-large amount of added pectin. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-jam-jelly-and-marmalade/647663/109 "2013-01-24T06:53:38Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Apple butter isn’t jam because it doesn’t have added pectin, and the pectin of the apples is cooked so long that it breaks down and doesn’t thicken the apple butter. Apple butter is thick because it’s so concentrated, being cooked a very long time, and the water evaporated out. Apple butter is essentially apple sauce that’s been cooked longer. Thank you for answering a longstanding question, WTF is apple _butter?_ > [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > It’s been a while since I looked at the ingredients of jelly but I don’t recall it actually having fruit juice in it - just colouring and flavouring. Correct, what you are calling “jelly” is what us Americans call “jello”, which is gelatin and contains no actual fruit or fruit juice. Thus my observation about the culinary deception. Whereas, being an American, I was reading your original comment as if it applied to pectin-enhanced gelled fruit juice that we Americans call “jelly”. So for us, “jelly” does have actual fruit juice. That’s why I can eat PB&J sandwiches as healthy food - they’re protein and fruit, right? \ > [@](#): > > I’m not really sure what mayonnaise would be doing in a sandwich that didn’t involve roast chicken or fish, but generally butter (being used here as a catch-all term for spreads also including margarine and olive oil spread) is applied to one side of each slice of bread - the side facing the filling, so to speak, So where I would use mayonnaise. Pretty much on any cold meat sandwich, and a few hot meat sandwiches. > [@](#): > > I don’t know if Peanut Butter and Jam sandwiches are a thing here - I’ve certainly never seen an adult eating one. (I’m sure, as with everything else I post here, someone will be along shortly to tell me that I’m completely wrong and every single person in the universe except me does in fact do whatever thing it is that I’ve never seen anyone doing). Well, you see, they start as children’s fare, but you see children grow up, and then there’s this thing called “comfort food”, which is all those things you had as a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-jam-jelly-and-marmalade/647663/110 "2013-01-24T09:05:58Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > Not sure about putting vegetables in my yogurt, but I did have some absolutely wonderful garlic yogurt the first time I visited Crete. I love garlic yogurt on Turkish - kebabs and what-have-you. (Along with sweet chili sauce… yum). This vegetable yogurt was sadly not like that, and it wasn’t a dressing – it was served in a small pot to be eaten with a spoon. Of course I may have been biased by the fact that I was basically expecting a sweet yogurt with bits of apricot or something and instead got unsweetened yogurt with bits of bell pepper. (I note that it wasn’t a commercial success). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-jam-jelly-and-marmalade/647663/111 "2013-01-24T10:39:44Z")
> [@mascaroni](#): > > I remember a butterscotch flavour Sainsbury’s 'Angel Delight’ish dessert which was served after a gammon and pineapple main course which was _de rigueur_ in the seventies. > Obviously, being middle class, the grapefruit for starters had to be grilled with brown sugar. > > Abigail’s got a lot to answer for… God, forgot about angel delight. And the starter was, obviously, a glass of orange juice. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-jam-jelly-and-marmalade/647663/112 "2013-01-24T19:14:08Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > I’m not really sure what mayonnaise would be doing in a sandwich that didn’t involve roast chicken or fish, but generally butter (being used here as a catch-all term for spreads also including margarine and olive oil spread) is applied to one side of each slice of bread - the side facing the filling, so to speak, > > I don’t know if Peanut Butter and Jam sandwiches are a thing here - I’ve certainly never seen an adult eating one. (I’m sure, as with everything else I post here, someone will be along shortly to tell me that I’m completely wrong and every single person in the universe except me does in fact do whatever thing it is that I’ve never seen anyone doing). Mayo works pretty well in most savory sandwiches that are on white bread. I think that mustard works better on rye bread or with corned beef or Swiss cheese. Ham and Swiss on rye really needs mustard. On the other hand, ham and American cheese on white bread can take mustard, mayo, or both. Hamburgers can also go either way. When my daughter was a toddler, she went through a phase of wanting to eat either PB&J or McDonald’s for Every. Single. Meal. I was willing to let her have ONE PB&J meal per day, and since she didn’t like cereal or eggs, she generally got it for breakfast, with a glass of milk. And since I was making a sandwich anyway, I got into the habit of making one for myself as well. I still eat them from time to time, though nowadays I generally skip the jelly. Many adults regard a PB&J as a comfort food, and that’s one reason why we have such strong opinions as to the type of peanut butter and spread and bread. We tend to want whichever kind we had or wanted to have when we were young. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-jam-jelly-and-marmalade/647663/113 "2013-01-24T19:36:24Z")
Yeah, I also consider it a comfort food. And I also skip the jelly. Peanut butter sandwich with a glass of milk. Sometimes it’s what you need. I also like to have a peanut butter sandwich sans jelly when I have chili con carne. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-jam-jelly-and-marmalade/647663.md?page=5)