marnanel: Jam in the fridge

Monument (

marnanel) wrote,
@ 2006-02-01 09:37:00

Entry tags:

poll

Jam in the fridge
Poll #664454 Jam in the fridge
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Do you keep jam (preserves, US jelly) in the fridge once you've opened it?

View Answers

Yes.
65 (85.5%)

No, I don't refrigerate it.
10 (13.2%)

Something else.
5 (6.6%)

(Post a new comment)

	cdk 2006-02-01 03:02 pm UTC (link)
	It goes in the fridge before I plan to use it. Anything I'm using it with will be either hot or warm, and I enjoy the contrast in temperatures. (Reply to this)

ghoti
2006-02-01 03:04 pm UTC (link)

I usually keep jelly in the fridge and jam out. There's a technical difference, and it's the same in both US and UK; jelly is made by squeezing out the juice, and preserving that, whereas jam is made using the whole fruit.

I realise that in the US people eat more jelly than jam, and therefore when a generic term is used they use 'jelly' rather than 'jam', but...

I spent years asking people what USians call jelly 'If they call jam jelly, what do they call jelly? No, not jello jelly, the sort you spread on bread' until I found a USian who'd been asking the same thing 'If they call jelly jam, what do they call jam?'

Surely you knew that? Which was it you wanted to know about?

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	marnanel 2006-02-01 03:06 pm UTC (link)
	I know the distinction you mean, but I never heard a USian say "jam" (except ones who were known to speak UK English). I have a jar of raspberry jam here and it's labelled "preserve": it doesn't say "jam" anywhere on it. I'm sure this is jam because it has all the pips in and everything (I don't particularly like jelly). (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	ghoti 2006-02-01 03:13 pm UTC (link)
	Oh, I have. I've also seen tons of recipes for jam. Preserves is the catch-all term. I don't keep jam in the fridge because we eat it quickly enough it doesn't need it. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	iswari 2006-02-01 03:15 pm UTC (link)
	Actually....preserves and jam are technically different as well, with preserves using bigger chunks of fruit, as opposed to jam, which is made from fruit pulp (and jelly, which is made from fruit juice!). (Reply to this) (Parent)

	sagima 2006-02-01 03:25 pm UTC (link)
	So peanut butter and jelly sandwiches aren;t peanut butter and jam sandwiches but actual jelly jelly or is it a 3rd fruit-based foodstuff? (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	marnanel 2006-02-01 04:16 pm UTC (link)
	In both the UK and the US, "jelly" is a spread made of fruit juice (rather than actual fruit). The UK also uses the term to mean gelatin-based desserts, as you know. The US also sometimes uses the term to mean other fruit-based spreads. Quite which circumstances this happens under is something we're still trying to pin down. :) (Reply to this) (Parent)

moominmuppet
2006-02-01 05:26 pm UTC (link)

I definitely grew up saying "jam" for things with fruity bits in them, and "jelly" for smooth things. I rarely ever say "preserves" but I tend to think of them as homemade, and rather less jelled, although that may just be due to personal experience with wonderful, but very goopy, strawberry preserves.

Oh, and I never put marmalade in the same category as any of the above, although maybe it should be a type of jam or preserve. I think of it as its own separate thing.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	anthologie 2006-02-01 05:58 pm UTC (link)
	I put my jam in the fridge, even though I go through a jar every week or so. I call it "jam," and I don't like the fruitless jelly stuff anyway, but if I'm referring to the sandwich it's "peanut butter and jelly," even when I mean jam. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	junni 2006-02-03 03:33 am UTC (link)
	I've always said jam for jam, and jelly for jelly. We grew up making jellies and jams. And this was long before I encountered UK speak. (Reply to this) (Parent)

queenmomcat
2006-02-01 03:09 pm UTC (link)

(wistfully) I don't eat more jelly than jam! (Just to confuse the issue, what exactly is the difference between jam and preserves?)

As far as who calls which what, for some reason I'm of the impression that non-cooks (in the U.S.) are more likely to refer to all 'congealed fruit products spread on toast' as jam regardless of what it actually is, although that may be regional. There are an awful lot of regional differences like that.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

firinel
2006-02-01 03:13 pm UTC (link)

Here in our area, people are likely to refer to all 'congealed fruit products spread on toast' as jelly. I've heard very few people use the word jam, and if so, usually only referring to homemade jam.

I make the same distinction that

ghoti does. I don't know of any difference between preserves and jams though. What I bought Marn to take into work says preserves on it, but that's what I'd call jam.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	queenmomcat 2006-02-01 03:17 pm UTC (link)
	Actually, it wouldn't surprise me if jam/jelly was a regional difference, along the lines of soda/pop/Co-cola. I think there is a real difference (at least to cooks) between jam and preserves, but I'll have to check to see/confirm that. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	iswari 2006-02-01 03:16 pm UTC (link)
	See above! (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	queenmomcat 2006-02-01 03:18 pm UTC (link)
	Thank you! (Reply to this) (Parent)

queenmomcat
2006-02-01 03:05 pm UTC (link)

Actually, whether I put mine in the fridge or not depends on how often I use it. Strawberry and marmalade go out on the counter because those get gobbled up by the humans before mold or mice can get to them. The black currant jelly we use for various pork dishes goes in the fridge because we don't use it fast enough to keep ahead of the non-human jam eaters in the household.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	marnanel 2006-02-01 03:09 pm UTC (link)
	I was told by a teacher at school that it was quite okay if your jam went mouldy, because the mould would keep the jam underneath from going bad and you could just scrape it off. I don't know whether this was actually sound advice. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	queenmomcat 2006-02-01 03:12 pm UTC (link)
	I'd heard that about hard cheeses, but not jam. Still, it's rather a bore to go scraping the top layer off before eating it? (Also, in our house, both of the humans are actually allergic to mold (stephe far more than I) so it's probably in our best interests to make sure that we don't ingest any.) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	(Anonymous) 2006-02-01 03:12 pm UTC (link)
	I don't know about protecting it, but you can end up with some fantastic alcoholic jam that way. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	gizmometer 2006-02-01 03:39 pm UTC (link)
	We don't eat much jam/jelly/whatever it is and ours often gets mouldy even in the fridge, eventually, especially the organic stuff, but yeah, scrape off the top thin layer and it's FINE. :D (Reply to this) (Parent)

	jam is the default word for this USanian... queenmomcat 2006-02-01 03:15 pm UTC (link)
	Interestingly, as a (sort of) cook, I think preserves are actually a third category of "soft things, usually sweet, which one spreads on toast/rolls up in pancakes/whisks into sauces/uses in a NWSf manner". I'm of the impression that it implies the whole fruit was included, but I'd have to double check that. (Reply to this)

	sagima 2006-02-01 03:17 pm UTC (link)
	I'd never considered putting jam in the fridge, nor indeed Marmite or peanut butter (they all live next to each other on the shelf next to my fridge) (Reply to this)

	mooism 2006-02-01 03:27 pm UTC (link)
	I used to keep jam in the fridge, when I ate jam. But not peanut butter. (Reply to this)

	yrieithydd 2006-02-01 03:39 pm UTC (link)
	If the jam says `keep refrigerated after opening' I do. This was the case with the reduced sugar jams we often had when I was a kid. I voted yes therefore, but maybe it should have been `something else'. TBH, these days I just don't have jam! (Reply to this)

	legolastn 2006-02-01 03:43 pm UTC (link)
	I keep it in the fridge before opening it. I like it cold. One set of grandparents does this as well. The other tends to keep it in the cabinet. Hmmm, I need a food icon. (Reply to this)

	jaq 2006-02-01 03:45 pm UTC (link)
	I tend to follow what the label on foodstuffs says. The most recent jams/preserves we have say to refrigerate them, so we did. (Reply to this)

ex_earthsist869
2006-02-01 05:02 pm UTC (link)

I keep most stuff like this (jelly, jam, preserves, even the peanut butter) in the fridge, because we once had some fantastic ants that knew how to unscrew lids and such (NO RLY, they could get in a sealed jar in a snap), but they weren't smart enough to get into the fridge. It's also why I keep most of my grains, flours, etc. in the freezer.... to keep those little bugs out.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	queenmomcat 2006-02-01 06:24 pm UTC (link)
	That's often why I keep comparatively non-perishable things in the fridge, although in my case it's mice. (Now I can't get the image of mountaineering ants rappelling up the peanutbutter jar out of my head.) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	rethought 2006-02-01 06:45 pm UTC (link)
	I keep them in the fridge for the long haul, but if they get left out for days at a time, I don't really get bothered. The sugar content keeps spoiling to a minimum and my fresh made never lasts long enough to go bad. :) (Reply to this)

	alsoname 2006-02-01 07:32 pm UTC (link)
	I grew up with a jam/jelly distinction. Once I met someone who didn't refrigerate his maple syrup, and I seriously started questioning his whole ability to live independently. Maybe that was an overreaction, but still. (Reply to this)

	mtbc100 2006-02-07 03:32 am UTC (link)
	Whichever the locals prefer. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	You guys are stupid (Anonymous) 2006-05-23 11:34 pm UTC (link)
	You guys are accually talking online about jellies and jams? don't you losers have anything better to do? go out and get some friends :P (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	marnanel 2006-05-24 01:49 am UTC (link)
	And you're not? (Reply to this) (Parent)

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