Jamming up the works...

Like most of my Generation, I was brought up watching ABC and Sesame Street, always slightly bemused that all the characters loved eating their peanut butter and Jelly samwiches. Big Bird and the rest being my role models at the time, I wanted to be like them. I couldn't manage the big yellow feathers so instead I tried something closer to home. Peanut butter and Jelly. I was so excited that I didn't give the Jelly enough time to set and it was like eating peanut butter trifle with soaked bread (wholemeal) instead of sponge. After that terrible experience I always looked at American tastes with a suspicious eye... untill the other day...

I had noticed in the Supermarket that there was, on sale, what looked suspiciously like Jam. 2 Jars for four Dollars. I grabbed them instentaniously, as you do when you are a Uni student, and rushed home to try my new yums.

BUT

They werent Jam! They were "conserve" ... What? Who? How? Who is this third party?

The explaination is as follows:

Jam and Jelly to most people are the one and the same. Made of fruit, spread on bread, has a weird name in America. But why then, if there is no difference, is there a distinction made between Jam and Jelly?

Its all about how it is made!

Wikipedia tells us that:
"Jams are usually made from pulp and juice of one fruit, rather than a combinations of several fruits. Berries and other small fruits are most frequently used, though larger fruits such as apricots, peaches, or plums cut into small pieces or crushed are also used for jams. Good jam has a soft even consistency without distinct pieces of fruit, a bright color, a good fruit flavor and a semijellied texture that is easy to spread but has no free liquid."

Aha! But then why is there such a thing as Jelly? What makes it special enough to deserve its own name? JELLY is JAM that has actually had the fruit pulp removed by a filter! Ahha! Its pure Juicy Jam. The mystery is solved! Or is it...

What is Conserve then? Why do we have conserve in Australia... are we going brand mad?

Dum dum daa!

(To be continued)