The purpose of jams isn't nutrition. ;) Heaven forbid!! It is pleasure, reward, treats.

But if you look at the nutritional label on most any store bought jars of jam you'll find approx. 9 grams of carbohydrates and sometimes 4-5% of the daily nutritional requirements for Vit. C. depending on variety (not all is destroyed by processing). The rest of the list (except calories) is zeros. The Smuckers brand for example list all their nutritional labels on their website.

Dave

I agree, I don't think anyone ever tried to tell me that jam was health food, LOL. In fact, I often use it to fill cookies, another treat that isn't exactly health food.

However, I do manage to make low sugar spreads that are more fruit than sugar, and even after long cooking the fruit retains some of the nutrients.

Annie

Personally, I choose full-sugar jams and other preserves, but I regard them as an indulgence, and I ration them accordingly.

Carol

The vitamins might be cooked out to a large extent, but the minerals will still be there. Jellies on the other hand probably do not have a whole lot left, considering all the pulp and skin is strained out. Reducing the sugar will go a long way towards making them "healthier". I think most of the recipes are sickeningly sweet, and obscure the flavor of the fruit anyway.

Ok, I'm gonna vote with the butter & jam and preserves folks and we're gonna say, anything to get you folks to eat something than might have just a little tiny bit of fiber! I'm not sure how to defend jelly, except to say that maybe it could be an ingredient for a sauce for some very fiber filled item that my husband needs to eat, like putting red plum jelly on the oat bran muffin. Like the doctor says, the best medicene in the world is no good if it just sits in the cabinet. Same thing for nutrition.

Here's nutritiondata.com's stats on jam/preserves (non-specific regarding what kind of fruit, exactly; I'd imagine it varies some). See the optional link.

They say a tablespoon still contains 3% of your RDA for vitamin C!

Here is a link that might be useful: Nutritional data for jam/preserves

I consider jams and jellies a garnish, and while they probably have no nutritional value, they don't have any calories either, do they!?!?!

I usually make freezer jams... where the fruit is never cooked. So.... wouldn't the nutritional values stay the same as for the fresh fruit?

If you are making conserves or jams, you'd be preserving any fruit fiber. One way to look at them, if they're homemade is what's NOT in them. A bazillion chemicals and preservatives.

Jelly is a condiment, like mustard. It exists to add pizazz to your healthy basic foods. If I don't worry how nutritional a dollop of mustard is, I'm not going to start worrying about a dollop of jam. LOL.