Strawberry Jelly Brands, Ranked Worst To Best

Pop quiz! What's the difference between jam and jelly? Alright, we'll tell you: Jelly is made from strained fruit, while jam is made from mashed fruit. What about preserves, you say? Well, preserves are more similar to jam, but contain larger whole fruit pieces. Now that we have that straightened out, what do you typically use these fruit spreads for?

While the first thing you think of may be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and that sure is delicious, jelly can be used for many other dishes. Jelly goes great as a filling between cake layers or in hand pies. It's also excellent spread on toast, waffles or pancakes. We love serving jelly on crepes for a special morning breakfast that feels fancy, but is secretly easy. Additionally, you can top it on ice cream, serve it spread on cream cheese and crackers or even scoop a dollop on your morning bowl of oatmeal.

If you are one to get crafty in the kitchen, you might feel adventurous enough to make strawberry jam from scratch. We're definitely fans of the fresh homemade flavor, and, as it turns out, it's not as challenging as you might think it is to cook up. But if stirring up a batch from home isn't your thing, don't fret. We've put together a list of strawberry jelly brands, ranked from worst to best to inform your grocery shopping purchasing decision fatigue. Keep reading below to find out what strawberry jelly brands stand out among the pack.

Polaner is known for their fruit spread varieties. They carry thirty-two flavor varieties, including mint jelly, orange marmalade, preserves, all fruit spreadable fruit, sugar free options, and even seedless options.

While the Polaner All Fruit Seedless Strawberry Spread Spreadable Fruit is not technically labeled as a jelly, the seedless condiment sure quacks like a jelly. Because the term "fruit spread" has no official definition, many of the jam and jelly companies can use it interchangeably. It is up to the consumer to determine whether the spread is a jam or a jelly. If the fruit has been strained and the resulting product is thinner, you've got yourself a jelly; if you have chunks of fruit in your product and it appears it was made without straining the fruit, you've got yourself a jam. In the case of the Polaner Seedless Strawberry Spread, we've determined this one is classified as a jelly. "Forget the seeds," the Polaner website implores, "and enjoy the smooth texture of your favorite spreadable fruit."

This spread contains strawberries, citric acid, water, pectin, natural flavor and juice concentrates from pear, grape, and pineapple. Because this jelly contains juice of other fruits, we find that the flavor comes through a bit confused. This jelly does not taste the most strawberry-forward, but rather very tropical. Because of this, we've moved this product near the bottom of our ranking.

Signature Select Strawberry Jelly, sold at Safeway and Albertsons grocery stores, is made from strawberry juice, high fructose corn syrup, pectin and citric acid. While we like that this brand's flavor has a great balance of sweet and tart, we do not love the inclusion of high fructose corn syrup. We would much prefer the inclusion of sugar instead.

The high fructose corn syrup has a way of making this jelly taste a bit too fake sweet for our liking. Other than this crucial factor, we find that this jelly is fairly suitable for most of your jelly needs. It spreads well and is thin but not watery. The balance of sweetness and tartness is a key way to regulate the flavor consistency from bite to bite. This is a good jarred option in a pinch, but we think you can set your sights a bit higher.

The d'arbo All Natural Fruit Spread in Garden Strawberry is another fruit spread variety, not technically termed a jelly. Based on an evaluation of these ingredients and a texture test, we've determined that this one is in fact a jelly, made from strained fruit.

This fruit spread contains strawberries, sugar, fruit pectin, and lemon juice concentrate. We find that the addition of lemon juice concentrate helps to brighten up the flavor a bit. However, overall, this strawberry jelly is sweet. A bit less sweetness would have led to a picture perfect strawberry jelly. (While we are glad that this strawberry jelly brand chose to opt for sugar to aid in sweetness instead of high fructose corn syrup, one may argue there's a pinch too much sugar in this one.) If you end up with a jar of this particular spread, we recommend pairing it with a bit more savory foods such as crunchy peanut butter or salty shortbread. As one Amazon reviewer noted, putting this on a slice of bread is "like fresh strawberries on your toast."

Did you know that the HEB grocery store name is an acronym for Here Everything's Better? We didn't, but they sure do live up to the full name. This Texas grocery store institution carries many HEB generic store brand products, including HEB Organics Strawberry Fruit Spread. This particular item contains organic ingredients, such as strawberries, sugar, apple pectin, ascorbic acid and citric acid. If organic food products are important to you, this brand might be your favorite.

This fruit spread, while thicker in consistency than most jellies, contains fairly "clean" ingredients, just strawberries, sugar, pectin, and two simple types of preservatives. We believe that these clean ingredients contribute to the fresh, bright taste of this fruit spread. However, for jelly purists, the HEB Organics Strawberry Fruit Spread may be just a bit too thick for your liking. In that case, keep reading for some stellar strawberry jelly brands at the top of our ranking.

The Walmart generic store brand, Great Value, is known for their incredible low prices and their exceptional value. It is right there in their name, after all. Great Value manufactures a range of affordable products in all food categories including this Strawberry Fruit Spread. This particular condiment contains remarkably simple ingredients, just strawberries, sugar, pectin, and citric acid. Due to this great ingredient list including sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup, we find that this spread is rather fresh tasting. You don't have to take our word for it: As one Walmart reviewer wrote (via Google Shopping), "This takes me back 30 years or so, my Grandma used to make the best jelly, with the same ingredients!"

Great Value Strawberry Fruit Spread is likely going to be the most affordable strawberry jelly you can find, going for about $2.50 a jar. This jelly is a great budget option that is available nationwide, as there are Walmarts in almost every city.

While this is marketed as a fruit spread, after review of these ingredients and a thorough taste and texture test, we've determined the Great Value Strawberry Fruit Spread to be a true jelly.

As we are self-proclaimed ingredient snobs, it might not be surprising to hear that we are fans of Whole Foods' 365 Organics Strawberry Fruit Spread. Whole Foods is known for their high quality ingredients, most of which are organic. They are the prototypical health food grocery store.

This 365 Organic Strawberry Fruit Spread contains simple ingredients including organic strawberries, organic cane sugar, fruit pectin, ascorbic acid, and citric acid, similar to many other brands. This fruit spread has a very thin consistency, so we are classifying it as a jelly. This consistency falls in line with the consistency you'd expect from a jelly, but it is not overly soggy or liquid-y. As one Amazon reviewer wrote, "It's sweet and spreads a lot easier than most jellies which I like. I hate jellies that are thick and sticky and don't spread easily but this one is very easy." If you have a Whole Foods near you, you won't be disappointed with the balanced flavor of this strawberry fruit spread.

Crofter's Organic offers many fruit spread varieties, such as — takes deep breath — apricot, berry harvest, blackberry seedless, blueberry blast, concord grape, four fruit, mango, morello cherry, peach, pomegranate power, seedless raspberry, strawberry, seville orange, strawberry banana, black currant, superfruit, and wild blueberry. Isn't that remarkable? We love the creative and unique flavor offerings this brand carries and are making a note to try them all.

The Crofter's brand relies on high quality, organic fruit ingredients. The Crofter's Organic Just Fruit Strawberry Spread contains strawberries, sugar, pectin, and citric acid. These minimal ingredients contribute to the fresh taste of this bright and acidic spread, making this spread the perfect compliment to a peanut butter sandwich. After conducting a thorough taste and texture test, we've determined that this fruit spread is thinner in texture similar to a jelly. If you see Crofter's Organic, you must purchase it. You will not be disappointed. We are making a vow to always keep some stocked on hand.