Yakami Orchard Yuzu Marmalade
Juicy, flavorful and wonderfully textured Yakami Orchards Yuzu Marmalade is made with fresh, local yuzu from a collective of family farms in Japan’s Miyazaki prefecture. Balanced out with honey and sugar, this yuzu marmalade is bright, tart and warmly sweet with every bite. Just by opening a jar of Yakami Orchards’ product, you’ll be able to smell the bright and subtly floral aroma of yuzu. We love the plentiful chunks of yuzu rind, which are thinly sliced and add texture without making the marmalade clumpy. The yuzu pieces contribute a pop of piney bitterness that is a pleasant counterbalance for the overall sweet spread.
Eat This Yum Meyer Lemon Lavender Marmalade
Mildly tart, this one-of-a-kind marmalade from Eat This Yum is adaptable to sweets, breakfast and savory dishes. The marmalade is surprisingly silky for housing multiple textures: Lavender buds, which subtly highlight Meyer lemon’s floral notes, and strands of lemon peel (Meyer lemons have famously tender rinds) are suspended in a loose, curd-like jelly. Use this balanced spread in everything from dessert glazes to dollops atop ricotta toast for a pop of bright citrus.
Irish Black Butter
A conserve of apples, cider, brandy, and spices, Irish Black Butter has a uniquely deep, caramelized apple flavor with subtle spice notes and an almost earthy, smoky finish. It’s made by cooking down the country’s famous Armagh Bramley apples until they developed a rich molasses-like quality and warm complexity; the apples themselves have a Protected Geographic Indication recognized by the European Union. Irish Black Butter has an excellent smooth, spreadable texture that is a bit thicker than store-bought apple butters; it isn’t silky or gelatinous on the tongue but rather has a very fine granularity like any good homemade apple butter. We absolutely love this award-winning paste for its depth of flavor—it’s the best apple butter you’ll ever have.
Yakami Orchard Ginger Marmalade
These well-rounded preserves from Japan have a fresh, bright character, with ginger's sharp bite balanced by the rich honey used to make them. The strips of fresh ginger in the marmalade are ribbon-thin and tender, adding bursts of piquant spice and texture without being overwhelming.
Eat This Yum Balsamic Caramelized Onions Jam
A little sweet, a little savory, this Balsamic Caramelized Onion spread from Eat This Yum is a cheese board’s best friend. Two varieties of onion, Vidalia and red—paired for well-rounded flavor—are diced and cooked down with balsamic vinegar. The onions get jammy but stay intact for a chutney-like texture—unlike some jams that can feel overly gelatinous. And it’s surprisingly well balanced: Balsamic vinegar shines in this, cutting through the jam’s sweetness for tang and umami. Made with just five simple ingredients, this versatile onion jam pairs well with a variety of savory recipes.
Terrapin Ridge Farms Apple Maple Bacon Jam
This balanced and pleasantly textured Apple Maple Bacon Jam is the ideal addition to a cheeseboard. Previously, our testers were dubious of bacon jam, which often underwhelms and doesn’t taste natural, but Terrapin Ridge Farms’ thick version made with apples, cinnamon, maple, butter and bacon wowed our team. The key? Just the right amount of crunchy bacon bits offer salty and smoky flavor that combine beautifully with sweet apples and maple. It’s a trio of flavors that pairs perfectly with creamy cheese like brie and works well spread on sandwiches or as a glaze for pork, ham or turkey breast.
Blake Hill Preserves Berry Collection — Set of 3
Featuring some of the best jams we’ve tasted—and recognized with Good Food Awards—this berry trio comes from Blake Hill’s botanical “farm and forage” collection, which combines edible wildflowers with seasonal farm-fresh fruit. All of Blake Hill’s preserves are perfectly balanced between sweet and tart and have a plush, silky texture. This collection includes our three favorite flavors; all are nut-free and gluten-free.
Blake Hill Raspberry with Wild Bergamot Jam
Bergamot, a Mediterranean citrus grown at their Vermont farm, adds a peppery, floral note to bright, perfectly tart raspberries. The jam works beautifully in sweet applications, added to a linzer torte cookie or layered into coffee cake batter. We like it with savory dishes as well, like game meats—try it in a sauce for duck, or simply serve the jam alongside.
Blake Hill Wild Blueberry with Lavender Jam
A classic combination, the fragrance of the house-made lavender syrup hits the nose first, but upon tasting, the floral flavor is actually quite subtle and mellow—the tart Vermont blueberries shine here. And the texture from pectin is brilliant, too—the jam flows off the spoon and isn’t overly gelatinous.
Blake Hill Strawberry with Wild Rose Jam
Blake Hill gets the balance of floral and fruit just right here—local wild Jacobite roses add a hint of subtle aroma to the sweet, early-summer strawberries, without overpowering it with perfumy flavor.
Le Bon Magot Spiced Raisin Marmalata
Le Bon Magot's raisin preserves are a careful balance of sweet and savory, featuring a woody, earthy aroma and dried-fruit depth punctuated by bright bursts of flavor when you bite into the raisins. This marmalata is flavored with an elegant version of ras el hanout, the classic North African spice blend made with cardamom, cumin and cinnamon. The producer uses dried rose petals for added complexity, while smoked cinnamon and a touch of chili impart a lingering warmth.
Le Bon Magot Lemon-Sultana Marmalata
Inspired by the flavors of the Silk Road, Le Bon Magot's small-batch artisanal marmalades have an astounding depth of flavor. These bright, well-rounded preserves have a strong, floral saffron flavor up front, without an overwhelming aroma; earthy anise notes of caraway and rich honey round out the marmalata, giving it complexity and balance. The sweet-tart quality of the sultanas—a type of golden raisin—is reinforced by verjus, an acidic juice pressed from unripe grapes, while thin ribbons of lemon zest add layers of tart, bright flavor.
Le Bon Magot Sour Cherry Pomegranate Conserve
Cozy, complex and ideal for the holidays, this Persian-style jam boasts bursts of rich red fruit flavor brightened by juicy whole sour cherries. Notes of decadent cocoa play up the pomegranate’s slight bitterness, while delicate orange blossom mingles harmoniously with the succulent cherries—which are dried and then rehydrated, packing a more concentrated flavor. We also love the use of mahlab—an aromatic spice made from the seed kernels of cherries—in this conserve, yielding a nutty, pleasantly bitter taste reminiscent of marzipan. Compared to your standard sour cherry jam, this spread offers many more layers of fruit flavor and nuance, with an extra-tangy kick brought by the pomegranate. We won’t judge if you just savor a spoonful straight from the jar, but this conserve has limitless potential to elevate all manner of dishes.
Wood's Cider Mill Pure Cider Jelly
With its rich concentrated apple cider taste and distinct but balanced tartness, this jelly is heads above typical apple jellies. Plus, it contains no sweeteners or preservatives. Wood’s Cider Mill in Weathersfield, Vermont, has been producing its small-batch cider in its 19th century cider press since 1882. The apples are ground and pressed through the screw-press, after which the cider is reduced in a wood-fired, stainless steel evaporator until it is a thick spreadable jam. The cider from 30 to 50 apples is concentrated into every resulting pound of cider jelly, which is a touch sour, sweet and mildly tannic, with notes of caramel and cinnamon.
Blake Hill Preserves Pumpkin Maple Butter
This Pumpkin Maple Butter is the perfect, understated addition to your autumn pantry. Made with pumpkins, Vermont maple syrup, apple cider vinegar and spices, the resulting butter is creamy and smooth—and refreshingly restrained compared to most pumpkin spice products. With its soft, silky texture and delicate spice, the pumpkin butter is perfect for stirring into oatmeal or porridge, fall soups like butternut squash, and holiday desserts (we also love it right out of the jar). This jam is nut-free and gluten-free.
Blake Hill Preserves Strawberry with Wild Rose
This Strawberry with Wild Rose Jam from Blake Hill’s “farm and forage” botanical collection combines the edible flowers that grow in the farm’s meadows with sweet, early summer strawberries. Blake Hill gets the balance of floral and fruit just right—local wild Jacobite roses add a hint of subtle aroma to the strawberry jam, without overpowering it with perfumey flavor. And the texture from pectin is brilliant, too—the jam flows off the spoon and isn’t over-gelled. In addition to their inventive flavors, all of Blake Hill’s preserves are perfectly balanced between sweet and tart and have a plush, silky texture. This jam is nut-free and gluten-free.
Blake Hill Preserves Wild Blueberry with Lavender
Part of the best line of jams we’ve tasted—this balanced and sophisticated Wild Blueberry with Lavender Jam from Blake Hill Preserves is part of the “farm and forage” botanical collection. The fragrance of the house-made lavender syrup hits the nose first, but upon tasting, the floral flavor is actually quite subtle and mellow—the tart Vermont blueberries shine here. And the texture from pectin is brilliant, too—the jam flows off the spoon and isn’t over-gelled. All of Blake Hill’s preserves are perfectly balanced between sweet and tart and have a plush, silky texture. This jam is nut-free and gluten-free.
