Love It, Like It, Hate It: Fruit spreads

Don’t get yourself in a jam by buying the wrong preserves!  Some are made with real, whole fruit and can be a great addition to a wholesome breakfast or the perfect PB&J, but many are made with more added sugar than real fruit – and some contain no real fruit at all!  In today’s Love it, Like it, Hate it, Molly gives us the skinny on the best & worst of jams, jellies, & preserves on shelves.

Jelly, jam & preserves:  Typically all made from fruit mixed with sugar & pectin (a carbohydrate found in cell walls of most fruit that gels to add thickness).  The main difference is the form that the fruit takes:

• Jelly: fruit juice is used

• Jam: fruit is in the form of pulp or crushed fruit; texture is more similar to pureed fruit

• Preserves: fruit is in chunks or pieces, surrounded by a syrup or a jam

Nutrition facts below are for one tablespoon

LOVE IT!

Tart Cherry Butter by Eden Foods

• 35 calories – 9 grams carbs – 8 grams sugar – just cherries, nothing else

• Organic tart cherries

Bionature Fruit Spread

• 30 calories – 8 grams carbs – 6 grams sugar

• Berry blend, apple juice concentrate, fruit pectin, ascorbic acid

LIKE IT!

Smucker’s Low Sugar Jelly

• 25 calories – 6 grams carbs – 5 grams sugar

• Grape juice, sugar, water, fruit pectin, locust bean gum, potassium sorbate

• Still just sugar, but about half of regular jelly. Also no artificial sweeteners

HATE IT!

Smucker’s Sugar Free Jam

• 10 calories – 5 grams carbs – 0 sugar (+ 3 grams fiber from maltodextrin)

• Water, fruit, polydextrose, maltodextrin, fruit pectin, locust bean gum, natural flavor, citric acid, potassium sorbate, sucralose (Splenda), calcium chloride, red 40, blue 1

• Very low calorie & zero sugar but has artificial sweetener sucralose + artificial colors red 40 & Blue 1.

Smucker’s & Welch’s Jam & Jelly

• 50 calories – 13 grams carbs – 12 grams sugar

• Strawberry or grape juice, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, fruit pectin, citric acid (no real strawberries)

Bonne Maman Marmalade

• 50 calories – 13 grams carbs – 13 grams sugar

• Sugar is first ingredient, followed by orange peels and then more sugar

To catch the full segment on WGNO.com, click here.