Jam

Jam is a sweet spread made from fruit. Fresh fruit is cooked with sugar until it becomes thick and soft. Then it is put into jars to keep it fresh for a long time. Jam tastes great on toast, pancakes, and in sandwiches.

How Jam Is Made

To make jam, fruit is washed and chopped into small pieces. The fruit is put in a pot with sugar and cooked on the stove. As it cooks, the fruit breaks down and becomes thick. Sometimes lemon juice or a helper called pectin is added to make it set. The hot jam is poured into clean jars and sealed.

Kinds of Jam

Jam can be made from almost any fruit. Strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, and grape are popular flavors. Apricot and peach jams are also yummy. Some jams have whole pieces of fruit in them, while others are smooth. A jam made with citrus fruit like oranges is called marmalade. People have been making jam to save fruit for hundreds of years.

Fun Facts

• Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches became popular in America during World War II.
• The thickest jams can hold their shape when scooped.
• Queen Mary of Scotland is said to have loved marmalade.

Did You Know?

Before refrigerators were invented, making jam was one of the best ways to keep fruit from going bad.