Techniques for preserving food have been used for generations. In order to prevent starvation after harvest and to have more food options throughout the year, humanity has dried, pickled, smoked, cured, sugared, and frozen its foods and crops. We developed methods to preserve figs and peaches for later use because we crave them all year round, not just when they are ripe. While specific methods of preservation have proven more effective than others throughout history, one of the most common ones has been sugar preservation.
An ancient method of food preservation is jamming, and even the ancient Greeks utilised honey to keep their fruit fresh. Today’s grocery shelves are lined with a wide selection of jams, jellies, and preserves, all carrying on this long-standing custom. Although they are all created in a similar manner, jams, jellies, and preserves have some distinctly different qualities. The compote is another sweet fruit mixture that frequently enters the fray. Jam and compote are two different fruit condiments, and they shouldn’t be confused with one another.
Fruit that has been crushed, chopped and boiled with sugar until the fruit softens and loses its unique shape is used to make jam. The jam thickens and becomes spreadable as it cooks, becoming ideal for English muffins, and cornbread, and pairing with its best buddy, peanut butter. Jam must have 65% soluble solids in legal terms.
Compote, on the other hand, is essentially what you would have if jelly were the opposite. Fruit pieces are boiled in sugar syrup without the addition of any additional thickeners (i.e. pectin). While the fruit in jam is chopped up into a more spreadable form, the fruit in compote is kept whole and may occasionally contain savoury seasonings like cinnamon or black pepper.
Here are the key differences between jam and compote:
- Most compotes have less sugar than a typical jar of jam. As a result, the calories are slightly lower, but the sugar's preservation properties are gone. Jam, for example, can last up to a month after being opened, but compote often only lasts two weeks in the refrigerator.
- Because jams often have a uniform consistency, most of them can be distributed. Compote, which could contain whole fruit pieces, can be a little more difficult to spread evenly.
- Jam and compote are not the same as marmalade and apple butter. If you're looking for a product without added sugar, apple butter is a wonderful choice. If you appreciate the flavour of citrus peels, take into account grapefruit or orange marmalade, where citrus rinds are a key component. If you want a spread with strong gelling properties, think about jelly, which is mostly formed of fruit juice, sugar, and pectin.
