• What’s the difference between jam, jelly and preserves? Check our our Jam & Jelly Glossary.
• Learn from our guide on what makes a good jam or preserve.
• See some of our favorite jams and preserves.

These four are must-trys. Photo by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

Joan Bernstein’s family has been farming on Long Island—the native word is Paumanok—for more than 100 years. Working with the fruits of the land is in her DNA. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, goes the adage. If they were Meyer lemons—or blood oranges, or bing cherries—Joan would make marmalade. Her jams, jellies and preserves take at least two days of preparation, including cooking over low heat, stirring nearly continuously (with time off to sleep) as the fruit cooks down to lush, dense preserved fruit. (What’s the difference between marmalade and preserves? We’re glad you asked.)

There are jams of every description: blackcurrant, blackberry, black raspberry, boysenberry, gooseberry, Damson plum, fig, pluot, red currant, sour cherry, strawberry rhubarb, white peach…and if that doesn’t keep you busy, there are many more.

But it is the savories that are so spectacular, you’ll want to lay them in by the case. Gracious Garlic Gelée, Haughty Horseradish Gelée, Incredible Onion Conserve; the chutneys, the salsas…and as a nod to the sweet side, the Pindar Merlot Wine Jelly, a grape jelly from Bacchus, is worthy of all the gods on Mount Olympus.

Fortunately, these memories don’t need to be preserved. You can order as much as you want online, with the caveat that when seasonal fruits sell out, they’re gone until next year.

Tartlets with four different flavors of
Curdelicious fruit curd: An easy and very
satisfying dessert. Guests will clamor for
more! Photo by Hannah Kaminsky | THE
NIBBLE.

Do you use fruit curd? Lemon curd is perhaps the most familiar variety, a creamy spread made with sugar, eggs and butter (in the richer recipes), flavored with lemon juice and often the zest (Curdelicious uses the oil from the peel fruit instead of the zest). Then, there are siblings lime curd and orange curd. Apart from the citrus family, you can find raspberry curd, strawberry curd, cranberry curd and others. We expect to stumble upon pomegranate curd any day now.

Fruit curd is refreshingly tart, as opposed to more sugary jams and preserves. The butter creates a smoother and creamier texture than jam. But if you only use fruit curd as an alternative to jam on toast, scones and croissants, you’re missing out.

Curd can be used to fill tart shells and meringues for easy, elegant desserts; and as a garnish for other desserts (pound cake, for example). You can make parfaits with curd, fill crêpes, top pancakes and waffles, make cookie sandwiches and substitute for custard. (Unlike lemon custard, for example, lemon curd contains more lemon juice and zest, which gives it a more piquant flavor as a cake filling.) There are many more uses, which we’ll explore in the full review.

Curdelicious makes everything more delicious, with fruit curds in lemon, orange, lime and raspberry. Read the full review below, and share your favorite fruit curd recipes with us. We may add them to this article!

If you’ve had wine jelly, it was most likely served over a brick of cream cheese with crackers—and hopefully a glass of wine or two. That’s not a bad start, but a good wine jelly is a gourmet delight that transcends cream cheese and crackers. Armed with the right serving suggestions, it’s not only a wonderful item for your own pantry, but a special yet inexpensive house gift, stocking stuffer, gourmet gift basket component and corporate gift, not to mention a gift for wine lovers. In fact, anyone who enjoys fine food will want to be clued in to how versatile a good wine jelly can be!

Colorado Mountain Jams & Jellies uses wines from top Colorado wineries, and the result is sit-up-and-take-notice. If you’ve never thought of serving a wine jelly with fish, poultry, meat, cheese and ice cream, it’s time to put on your thinking cap.

Read the full review for ideas on what foods you can pair with these delicious wine jellies, and other ways to enjoy them.

These wine jellies not only taste good, but are low in sugar, too. Photography by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

It’s no surprise that all natural foods taste better—at least, to us. (We’ve ceased to be surprised when we try to proselytize. For example, we’ll bringing soda-chugging friends what we think is a far superior product, such as Boylan’s or GuS all natural cola, both of which have exciting genuine cola flavor and far less sugar. Invariably, they tell us they prefer the big-name brands that are neither natural nor, to us, flavorful). But we never tire of side-by-side tests. Recently, we sat down with jars of supermarket favorite Jif peanut butter and two new variations, Jif Natural Peanut Butter Spread and Jif To Go Reduced Fat Creamy Peanut Butter Spread.

The new Jif Natural Peanut Butter Spread is 90% peanuts; with sugar, palm oil, salt and molasses as the only other added ingredients, it is delish. It also has half the sodium of regular stabilized peanut butter. MSRP $2.70/18 ounce jar and $4.15/28 ounce jar.

Reduced Fat Jif is 60% peanuts and has eight grams less fat per serving than the regular Jif To Go. It also has corn syrup solids, soy protein, sugar, salt, molasses, fully hydrogenated vegetable oils, magnesium oxide, ferric phosphate, niacinamide, copper sulfate, pyridoxine hydrochloride and folic acid. No surprise, we happily kept the Jiff Natural, and gave the Reduced Fat product to reduced-fat-buying friends. Available in 6-pack To Go cups, MSRP $2.99-$3.19, and 18-ounce jars.

Natural Jif and Jif To Go Reduced Fat PB spread. Photo by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

Diane’s Sweet Heat in Blackberry, Mango and Strawberry.

We’ve tried lots of clear pepper jelly (Aloha From Oregon’s pepper jellies were a Top Pick Of The Week), but these are our first chunky pepper jams, ready to be slathered on toast, biscuits, bagels (great with cream cheese), muffins, pancakes, cookies, pound cake, ice cream, poultry, beef, lamb, pork, seafood, even on breakfast eggs—eliminating the need to sprinkle on hot sauce and redefining the jelly omelet.

The ingredients are pure and simple: sugar, fruit, red bell peppers, habanero chiles, vinegar and pectin. The four-ounce jars are available in six flavors: Blackberry, Blueberry, Mango, Peach, Raspberry and Strawberry. The experience is fruity, hot and exciting.

- Learn the difference between jam, jelly, preserves, marmalade and more in our Jam & Jelly Glossary.

- Have fun with our Jam Trivia Quiz.

- See more of our favorite sweet spreads in our Jam & Jelly Section.