What Is a Preserve?

Preserves on bagel
Strawberry-Vanilla Preserves from Preserving with Pomona's Pectin

A preserve is different from a jam! "In a preserve the fruit remains more whole; small berries or cherries are left as is, and larger fruits, such as apples or peaches are cut into uniform chunks," says Allison Carroll Duffy in Preserving with Pomona's Pectin.

The fruit is then suspended in jelled liquid, as you can see in the photo to the right. When making a preserve, you can use a smaller amount of Pomona's Pectin because you are only jelling the liquid not the fruit.

To illustrate, here are the ingredients for Allison's recipe for Strawberry-Vanilla Preserves, excerpted from Preserving with Pomona's Pectin.

Strawberry-Vanilla Preserves Ingredients

2¼ pounds strawberries
½ cup water
1 vanilla bean
1½ teaspoons calcium water
1¼ cups sugar
1½ teaspoons Pomona’s Pectin powder

And here is the complete recipe -- Enjoy!

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