Jam - jelly

In British English, jam is a conserve made from fruit in which recognisable, discrete, solid lumps of the original fruit may be discerned. A jelly has two principal meanings. The first is a the name of a substance like a jam, a conserve of fruit, but without lumps – a smooth, homogenous preparation. Both jam and jelly, in this sense, are basically intended to be spread on bread.

Marmalades, in modern English, are jams made from citrus fruits. Traditional marmalade is made from Seville oranges, though nowadays lemon, lime and grapefruit marmalades are also available in shops. There is even a most untraditional marmalade. (The most traditional marmalade of all is hardly to be found in Britain at all. It is more like a sweet (US ‘candy’) and is made from quinces – whose name in Portuguese is marmelo.)

In the United States, the word for all the conserves known as jam, marmalade and jelly in Britain is jelly.

The second meaning of jelly, in Britain, is as the name of a kind of pudding made from fruits and gelatine, or similar substances. A form of this can be bought in packets, only needing to be dissolved in boiling water and left to set. In the USA, this is called Jello, after a successful brand.