What is the best jam?

If you mean fruit jam, my pick is Bonne Maman Raspberry Preserves. It has a great sweet-tart balance, real raspberry texture, and works especially well on toast, PB&J, or pastries. Food Network also picked it as a top store-bought jam.

• Bonne Maman Raspberry Preserves - $6.44 (Walmart)

My quick ranking:

• 🥇 Raspberry — best overall; bright and tangy
• 🥈 Strawberry — classic and sweeter;

is excellent

• 🥉 Apricot — especially good on toast, scones, and pastries; Bon Appétit has repeatedly rated Bonne Maman's apricot highly.
• 💰 Best budget pick:

If you tell me what you're putting it on (toast, PB&J, biscuits, pancakes, etc.), I can give you the best flavor for that.

Determining the "best" jam depends entirely on whether you are looking for a reliable grocery store classic or an artisanal, small-batch masterpiece that tastes like summer in a jar.

The top contenders across different categories include:

• Bonne Maman (Best Overall Grocery Brand): Widely loved for its iconic checkered lid, French heritage, and simple ingredient lists. Their Strawberry and Four Fruits preserves pack a high fruit content and natural sweetness without tasting overly artificial or cloying. You can browse their lineup on the Bonne Maman Official Website.
• St. Dalfour (Best No-Added-Sugar Option): Sweetened entirely with concentrated fruit juices rather than cane sugar, this French brand lets the pure flavor of the fruit shine through. Their Black Raspberry and Thick Apricot are standout choices.
• Frog Hollow Farm (Best Artisanal / Farm-Fresh): If you want a luxury, tree-to-jar experience, Frog Hollow (based in California) makes incredible organic fruit preserves using their own perfectly ripened stone fruits and berries.
• Sidehill Farm (Best Small-Batch Comfort): Handcrafted in Vermont using traditional methods—boiling down fresh fruits with sugar rather than using commercial pectin—their JK Adams American Cherry Jam and raspberry preserves capture an intensely authentic, homemade flavor.[1]
• Smucker's Natural (Best Everyday Budget): For a quick, dependable supermarket pickup, Smucker's "Natural" line strips out the high-fructose corn syrup and artificial junk, leaving just fruit, sugar, and fruit pectin.

If you want to narrow this down, tell me:

• What flavor are you craving (strawberry, fig, raspberry, etc.)?
• Are you putting it on toast, pairing it with cheese, or baking with it?

I can give you a specific recommendation for your exact use case.

Defining the "best" jam comes down to whether you prefer mass-market nostalgia, clean 100% fruit-forward spreads, or complex artisan preserves. Different categories lead the pack depending on what you're looking for:

The Artisan InnovatorBlake Hill Preserves (like their Good Food Award-winning Gooseberry with Elderflower) crafts complex, small-batch botanical pairings that redefine what fruit preserves can taste like.[1]

If you have a specific flavor in mind (like strawberry, fig, or raspberry) or a particular use (toast, charcuterie, or baking), let me know and I can give you a more tailored recommendation.

If you mean fruit jam, my pick is raspberry—especially

• Bonne Maman Raspberry Preserves - $6.44 (Walmart)

. It has a great sweet-tart balance and real raspberry texture; Food Network also singled it out as a favorite.

For strawberry, I’d go with

• Bonne Maman Strawberry Preserves - $6.28 (Walmart)

. It’s a particularly good all-purpose choice for toast, biscuits, or PB&J.

If you want the absolute best regardless of price, a 2026 blind tasting picked INNA Jam Albion Strawberry as its winner.

My ranking: 🍓 Strawberry for classic → ❤️ Raspberry for flavor → 🍑 Apricot for something more sophisticated.

If you mean fruit jam, the “best” depends on what you want it for, but these are strong picks:

• 🥇 Best overall (fruit-forward): St. Dalfour Strawberry Fruit Spread — bright fruit flavor, softer texture, and less of a candy-like sweetness. It has scored highly in strawberry jam taste tests.
• 🍓 Best classic strawberry jam: Bonne Maman Strawberry Preserves — a great balance of familiar sweetness, berry flavor, and texture.
• 🥪 Best for a peanut butter & jelly sandwich: Smucker's Strawberry Jam — nostalgic, widely available, and very PB&J-friendly.
• 🍇 Best grape jam: Welch's Concord Grape Jam — the classic choice if you like that sweet, nostalgic grape flavor.
• 🍇 Best raspberry option: Bonne Maman Raspberry Preserves — excellent on toast, scones, or with cheese.

If I had to pick one jar for most people, I’d go with St. Dalfour Strawberry Fruit Spread for a more “real fruit” taste, or Bonne Maman Strawberry Preserves for a classic everyday jam.

If you mean the best jam in a specific category (toast, PB&J, cheese board, low sugar, homemade, etc.), the answer changes.

Because "the best" jam entirely depends on whether you prefer a rustic artisan preserve, a smooth supermarket classic, or a deeply tart citrus blend, the top contenders break down by style and category:

• The Artisanal Grand Champion: INNA Jam Go to product viewer dialog for this item. (specifically their varietal-specific berry jams like Seascape Strawberry Go to product viewer dialog for this item. ) is frequently praised by food critics like Epicurious for tasting intensely like fresh-picked, stewed fruit rather than pure sugar.
• The Best Everyday Supermarket Pick: Crofter's Organic Go to product viewer dialog for this item. (specifically their Premium Strawberry Spread ) strikes the ideal balance of being thick, genuinely fruity, moderately priced, and less cloying than conventional mass-market jellies.
• The Award-Winning Connoisseur Choice: Sarabeth's Orange Apricot Marmalade Go to product viewer dialog for this item. is legendary (winner of multiple specialty food association awards and praised by Food & Wine ) for its lush, lower-sugar blend of oranges, apricots, and a hint of pineapple.[1]
• The Complex Craft Preserve: June Taylor Jams Go to product viewer dialog for this item. or Robert Lambert make high-end, small-batch conserves (like Rhubarb Blood Orange or Apricot with Sauvignon Blanc ) that elevate fruit preservation into an art form.

To help narrow down your ultimate jar, tell me:

• What is your favorite fruit flavor (strawberry, fig, raspberry, apricot, etc.)?
• Do you prefer it super smooth, extra chunky, or tart and citrusy?
• Are you looking for an everyday grocery store option or a specialty artisan brand?

If you mean fruit jam, my pick is Bonne Maman Apricot Preserves. It has a great sweet-tart balance, noticeable fruit pieces, and a rich fruit flavor; Bon Appétit has repeatedly rated the apricot flavor among its favorites.

• Bonne Maman Apricot Preserves - $6.44 (Walmart)

For strawberry, I’d go with Crofter’s Organic Strawberry Premium Spread—it has done particularly well in blind taste tests for strong, natural strawberry flavor.

• Crofter’s Organic Strawberry Premium Fruit Spread - $5.64 (Walmart)

My quick ranking:

• 🥇 Apricot — best overall
• 🥈 Strawberry — best classic
• 🥉 Raspberry — best if you like tartness

If you tell me what you're putting it on (toast, PB&J, biscuits, croissants, cheese, etc.), I can pick the best one for that.

Finding the "best" jam comes down to whether you want a nostalgic, crowd-pleasing supermarket staple or a bright, fruit-forward artisan jar. Food critics and taste tests generally point to a few standout champions depending on your criteria:

• The Overall Supermarket Winner: St. Dalfour Strawberry Fruit Spread took the top spot in Serious Eats' exhaustive taste test of strawberry jams. Because it’s sweetened only with vineyard-ripened fruit juices rather than cane sugar, it tastes remarkably fresh, vibrant, and balanced rather than cloyingly sweet.
• The Everyday Classic: Bonne Maman is universally beloved (and famously favored by many chefs) for its traditional French preserves. Their raspberry and fig preserves strike an ideal balance of thick, spoonable texture and rich, authentic fruit flavor.
• The Bright & Tart Alternative: Fior di Frutta (Rigoni di Asiago) is a top-tier runner-up for anyone who prefers a less sugary, higher-acidity fruit spread that lets the true tartness of the berry shine.
• The Gourmet / Specialty Pick: Stonewall Kitchen (famous for flavors like Wild Maine Blueberry or Strawberry Apple Rhubarb ) or local farmers' market small-batch makers deliver incredible depth, chunky fruit pieces, and complex flavor notes that industrial jams can't touch.

If you have a specific flavor in mind (like strawberry, fig, or raspberry) or a preferred use case (toast, charcuterie boards, or baking), let me know and I can give you a more tailored recommendation!

If you mean fruit jam, my vote is apricot. 🍑

It has the sweet-tart balance to work on toast, croissants, cheese, pastries, or yogurt. In a large Bonne Maman taste test, apricot ranked #1, and Bon Appétit liked it enough to crown it again in a follow-up tasting.

If you're buying strawberry, a recent Serious Eats blind tasting picked St. Dalfour Strawberry Fruit Spread as the winner for its bright fruit flavor and rustic texture.

My ranking:

1. 🥇 Apricot — best overall
2. 🥈 Raspberry — best if you like tart, intense fruit
3. 🥉 Strawberry — classic, especially for PB&J
4. Blueberry — excellent on pancakes/biscuits
5. Fig — best with cheese

If you tell me what you're putting the jam on (toast, PB&J, croissant, cheese, etc.), I can give you the best specific jar to buy.

While the "best" jam ultimately comes down to personal taste (and whether you prefer a super-sweet jelly or a tart, fruit-forward preserve), the food world generally divides the crown between ubiquitous grocery store favorites and legendary artisanal small-batch producers.

Here are the top contenders depending on what you're looking for:

• Best Everyday Grocery Store Favorite: Bonne Maman (Strawberry or Fig)
  Recognizable by its iconic red-checked lid, it’s widely loved by home cooks and even chefs because it uses simple, high-quality ingredients with a high fruit content and no artificial preservatives. It tastes clean, natural, and remarkably close to homemade.
• Best Low-Sugar / Fruit-Forward Pick: St. Dalfour (Strawberry Fruit Spread)
  Sweetened entirely with fruit juice-concentrate rather than cane sugar, Serious Eats taste-tests frequently rank this at the top for its soft, spoonable texture and pure, bright berry flavor that doesn't get masked by cloying sweetness.
• Best Specialty / Gift Jam: Stonewall Kitchen (Wild Maine Blueberry Jam)
  If you want something rich, deeply flavorful, and bursting with regional character, Stonewall Kitchen's line makes incredible gifts or charcuterie board pairings.
• The Global "Holy Grail" (Artisanal): Christine Ferber
  Known in the culinary world as the "Queen of Jam" (Fée des Confitures ), this Alsatian pastry chef makes small-batch, copper-pot preserves using hyper-local French fruits. If you ever get your hands on a jar, food critics widely agree it is some of the best jam on earth.

What kind of flavor profile do you prefer—classic sweet strawberry, tart raspberry , or something unique like fig or pepper jelly ? I can give you a more specific recommendation or a recipe to make your own!