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honey & jam: buying guide
Honey
• Raw vs Heated - Artisanal honey producers sell their honey in its raw, natural state. Raw honey has a tendency to crystallize and solidify over time. When honey crystallizes, it does not mean it has gone bad, but it does mean you will have to gently heat the jar in a warm water bath in order to return it to a liquid form (or you can eat it in its crystallized form). The honey you buy at the supermarket has been subjected to high heat (over 160 degrees). The high heat permanently alters the honey so that it remains in a liquid state for years, giving it a long supermarket shelf life. Since it doesn't crystallize, supermarket honey is very convenient -- but you do pay a price. The heat kills off many of the honey's subtle flavors, nutrients and beneficial enzymes.
• Unfiltered vs Filtered - Supermarket honey is highly filtered, so that all the bits of wax and pollen are removed from the final product. The result is honey that looks clean, clear and smooth. Artisanal honey producers will often strain out the big pieces of honeycomb wax and debris, but leave the product otherwise unfiltered, so that the fine grains of pollen and smaller particles remain in the final product. The result is a less smooth, more textured honey that is cloudy in appearance. Some have suggested that eating pollen can help allergy sufferers build up an immunity to those pollens, but this only works if you consume local honeys, made from pollens native to your own area.
• Single Source vs Blended - When artisanal honey producers place a bee hive in the middle of a California orange grove, the result -- orange blossom honey -- has a distinctive citrus flavor. Honey obtained from the tupelo gum tree in Florida is mild, while buckwheat and basswood honeys are strong and robust. The mass-market honey found on your supermarket shelf is often clover honey (a mild, single-source honey) or a generic, blended honey made from the nectar of a variety of different floral sources.
• Find Local Honey - Honey Locator allows you to search for purveyors of honey by floral source, company, location or other search criteria.
Fruit Spreads
• Jelly - Thin and smooth with no bits of fruit in it. Made with fruit juice.
• Jam - Thicker and chunkier than jelly. Made with pureed, chopped or crushed fruit.
• Preserves - Very chunky. Made from small whole fruits or large fruit chunks.
• Conserves - When jams are made using two or more types fruits (i.e. pears and apples), they are called conserves. Conserves also refer to jams that contain other add-ons such as nuts, raisins, spices or coconut.
• Marmalade - Citrus-based (orange, lemon, etc.) jams or jellys with bits of fruit rind suspended in it. The added rinds give the jelly or jam its bitter, tangy taste. Sometimes other fruits (cherries, rhubarb, etc.) are added to the mix.
• Fruit Butter - Less gelatinous in texture than jam or jelly. More like a smooth, creamy spread. It is made from fruit puree cooked with sugar. There is no real dairy butter in fruit "butter."