Why are grape preserves so hard to find in the USA?
When I was much younger my grandmother was always complaining that she could never find grape preserves anymore. That was maybe 20-30 years ago.
I recently started looking for grape preserves and am unable to find them. I can find black currant preserves, blueberry preserves and just about any other fruit under the sun. But why is grape preserves so hard to find?
I thought maybe it has something to do with fermentation and wine? But I cannot find any information. I am not talking about grape jelly, I am specifically talking about grape preserves.
Other than making them myself, where do you find any in a store?
** If you do not know the difference between jelly and preserve, you can read about it here.
- In jelly, the fruit comes in the form of fruit juice. Jelly has the smoothest consistency and is usually clear.
- In jam, the fruit comes in the form of fruit pulp or crushed fruit. This makes jam less stiff than jelly.
- In preserves, the fruit comes in the form of chunks in a gel or syrup. Preserves will have more fruit in them than jam will. Marmalade is a type of preserve with citrus fruits in it.
Best Answer
TL;DR: likely because demand was too low to sustain commercial distribution
Barring any relationship to a specific historical incident, it's very difficult to find out why a specific food is no longer commercially produced. In the absence of specific reasons, we can see a number of contributing factors as to why grape preserves would have gone off the market:
- In the US, sales of preserves in general trail sales of jams and jellies considerably. Grape jelly eclipses sales of grapes in other forms (sorry all refs behind paywalls). This distribution is very skewed with 9 varieties constituting 80% of the market. So it could be quite possible for grape preserves to "fall off" the bottom of the market.
- For historical reasons having to do with the Concord Grape, Americans are used to eating their grapes as jelly, so preserves may seem quite oddball and hard to sell.
- From what I could gather from the one grape preserve recipe I found, the runny texture of grape preserves are possibly off-putting to most consumers.
Not terribly satisfying, I know, but that may be as much information as is out there.
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Quick Answer about "Why are grape preserves so hard to find in the USA?"
Jam must have 60% sugar to legally be called jam, so the high fruit content ones cannot be called jam & must be called preserve. There actually are several grape "preserves" on the market, but they are low volume and not readily found.Are grape preserves the same as grape jelly?
In jelly, only fruit juice is used (think of how grape jelly doesn't have chunks of grape in it). In jam, the fruit is mashed or blended into a fine pulp, or at least completely crushed. And in preserves, the fruit is left more intact, in visible and palpable chunks.Can you buy grape jelly in the UK?
Welch's Grape Jelly 510g 18oz (glass bottle) : Amazon.co.uk: Grocery.Why is it grape jelly not jam?
Much like jelly, jam is also cooked with sugar and acid, but the difference is that it uses fruit (either chopped, crushed, or pureed) instead of fruit juice. Pectin is also sometimes added, but jams tend to be slightly looser in consistency compared to jellies and have more texture from the addition of fruit.10 Items That Will Soon Be Impossible To Find At Grocery Stores!
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Answer 2
I received the following response from Bonne Maman in France
Dear Mr. XXX,
Thank you for contacting Bonne Maman®. We are always happy to hear from our consumers. You are the reason Bonne Maman is such a successful brand.
Bonne Maman is owned by Andros SNC, a privately owned, family run company, situated in the southwest of France. Our products are manufactured and packed in the town of Biars, in the Lot region, and shipped all over the world.
All our Bonne Maman® Preserves have seeds as the recipes are made using whole fruits. The products feature trademark pieces of fruit, along with the seeds in all of our Bonne Maman flavors of Preserves and Spreads.
Bonne Maman® Jellies are made with the juice of fruit and therefore have neither large pieces of fruit nor seeds. This is true with Bonne Maman as well as all products labeled “Jelly”. Consumers who prefer a smooth, consistent texture, often prefer jellies vs. preserves or spreads.
A sure way to distinguish between our Bonne Maman Preserves and Jellies is the color of the cap of the jar. Our Preserves and Spreads (with seeds) have the red and white cap, our Jellies (no seeds) have the navy blue and white cap. The flavors available in the USA as Jellies are: Muscat Grape, Redcurrant, Blackcurrant and Blackberry. You may find that they are not as widely available in stores as the Bonne Maman Preserves, but you can find them on our online store, www.bonnemaman.us, click “Shop Now” at the top of the page.
Bonne Maman has never made grape preserves. Seeds and skin pieces would be too big and make it unpleasant.
I hope this answers your question.
Sincerely,
Christine
Andros Foods USA Inc.
www.bonnemaman.us
The simple answer is:
Seeds and skin pieces would be too big and make it unpleasant.
Answer 3
It could also possibly be because the modern varieties of grapes commercially grown for eating do not make a good jelly or jam.
Having made jam with a variety of grapes I have found that most of the grapes we buy as table grapes make a fairly ordinary jam whereas if you can get hold of older cultivars, grape jam/jelly is an amazing preserve.
Answer 4
For what it is worth, in case you want to make your own grape jam.
The recipe calls for basically four things: grapes, sugar, lemon, butter. And as I have gotten a lot of recipes off of SeriousEats.com, I figure this might be worth a look.
Check it out here.
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