Jam
Jam is a preserve made by cooking fruit pulp or fruit pieces with sugar and, in most industrial formulations, added pectin and acid until the mixture sets into a spreadable gel. The bakery ingredient trade buys it in bulk as a filling, topping and glazing material rather than in retail jars.
The set comes from a pectin network. Sugar competes for water, acid suppresses the charge on the pectin chains, and the chains associate into a gel that holds the fruit and the syrup in suspension. High methoxyl pectin is used for the conventional high sugar formulation, while low methoxyl and amidated pectins allow reduced sugar jams to set through calcium bridging instead. The finished product is preserved chiefly by its own soluble solids, usually in the range of 60 to 68 degrees Brix, and by a pH near 3.2, with heat filling providing the commercial sterility.
Bakery grades are formulated for what happens to them in an oven or a depositor rather than for spreading. Bake-stable jams resist boiling out and running during baking, freeze and thaw stable grades survive frozen dough and part-baked routes, and glazing grades are thinner and are applied hot to give gloss. The material ships in pails, drums and aseptic bag-in-box, and is pumpable when warmed.
We source bulk Jam from top China manufacturers for our partners, working with several of them. The manufacturers are mostly in Beijing, Hebei and Tianjin. A smaller requirement can ship in a combined container with other ingredients.
Please send the grade you need, the volume and your destination port, and we will come back with a solution and a price.
or call +86-21-6858 0751
- Function
- Bakery ingredient
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Homogeneous gel with fruit pieces or pulp evenly distributed |
| Colour and flavour | Characteristic of the declared fruit, free from cooked or scorched notes |
| Soluble solids at 20 degrees Celsius | 60 to 68 degrees Brix for standard grades |
| pH | 3.0 to 3.6 |
| Fruit content | Conforms to the declared recipe and market requirement |
| Water activity | 0.80 to 0.86 |
| Bostwick consistency | Conforms to grade, measured at 20 degrees Celsius |
| Syneresis after 24 hours | None visible |
| Lead | 0.5 mg/kg max |
| Arsenic | 0.5 mg/kg max |
| Total plate count | 1000 cfu/g max |
| Yeast and mould | 50 cfu/g max |
| E. coli | Absent in 1 g |
| Salmonella | Absent in 25 g |
Common Markets Grades
The main distinctions are fruit content, sugar level and thermal behaviour. Standard jam carries the fruit content required by the identity rules of the destination market, while lower fruit fillings sold as fruit preparations or compound fillings carry less fruit and more sugar and thickener, and must be labelled accordingly. Reduced sugar and no added sugar variants run at lower soluble solids and rely on low methoxyl pectin plus a preservative or on aseptic filling, since the sugar is no longer doing the preserving.
Functional grades follow the process the baker is running. Bake-stable jam holds its shape and does not boil out of a Danish or a thumbprint biscuit, freeze and thaw stable jam resists syneresis through frozen storage, deposit grades are specified on Bostwick flow so they run correctly through a depositor nozzle, and glaze or nappage grades are thinner and higher in gloss. Seedless, seeded, diced fruit and whole fruit presentations are offered across most fruit types, along with clean-label versions that omit synthetic colour and preservative.
Applications
- Filled biscuits, thumbprint cookies and jam sandwich creams, using bake-stable grades that hold shape through the oven
- Danish pastries, croissants and laminated products, deposited before baking
- Swiss rolls, sponge layers and cake sandwiching, where flow and spreadability decide the choice
- Filled buns and steamed breads, injected after baking or enclosed before proving
- Doughnut and bun injection through a needle depositor
- Tart and pie fillings, either on their own or blended with fruit pieces
- Glazing and nappage on fruit tarts and cheesecakes, applied warm for gloss and moisture barrier
- Yoghurt fruit preparations and dessert layering, using aseptically filled grades
- Ice cream ripples and variegates, formulated to stay soft at freezer temperature
Brands Using Jam
Widely-distributed consumer products that list Jam on the ingredient label.
Brand names, product names and logos are the property of their owners. They appear here as published evidence that the ingredient is used, taken from the brand's own label or website. Their appearance is not an endorsement, and it does not mean the brand buys from us or from any manufacturer listed on this site.
China Manufacturers of Jam
Top Jam manufacturers in China.
Andros China Corporate, Ltd.1 ingredient in the directory- Baoding Weifeng Food Co., Ltd.1 ingredient in the directory
- GREEN FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (TIANJIN) Co., Ltd.2 ingredients in the directory
Zhaoqing Haixing Biotechnol Co., Ltd.5 ingredients in the directory- Zhejiang Shishun Foods Co., Ltd.2 ingredients in the directory
Company names and logos are the property of the manufacturers themselves. They are listed here because our own directory records them as producing this ingredient. A listing is not an endorsement by them, and we do not represent them or speak on their behalf.
Regulatory Status
In the United States fruit jams and preserves have a standard of identity under 21 CFR part 150, which sets the minimum proportion of fruit ingredient to saccharine ingredient and the minimum soluble solids for a product labelled jam or preserve, and lists the optional ingredients permitted. A fruit filling that does not meet the standard is sold under a descriptive name such as fruit filling or fruit preparation with a full ingredient declaration. Colours, preservatives and pectin used in the formulation are each subject to their own additive clearances.
In the European Union jams, jellies, marmalades and sweetened chestnut puree are governed by the vertical directive on those products, which sets minimum fruit and soluble solids requirements for each reserved name and permits certain ingredients only. Additives used in the recipe come under Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 and its category rules for jams and similar products. Codex maintains a standard for jams, jellies and marmalades covering composition and labelling. Allergen labelling for any nut, dairy or sulphite content, and a sulphite declaration where sulphited fruit has been used, apply in both markets.
Manufacturing Process
Fruit arrives fresh, frozen or as aseptic pulp and is washed, sorted, destoned or destemmed and then pulped, diced or left whole according to the presentation. The fruit is charged to a cooking vessel with sugar, glucose syrup, pectin dispersed in dry sugar to avoid lumping, and an acidulant, usually citric acid. Cooking is done in an open steam-jacketed pan for traditional products or, more commonly at industrial scale, in a vacuum evaporator at reduced temperature, which shortens the heat load and preserves fruit colour and flavour.
The batch is boiled to the target soluble solids, checked by refractometer, and the acid is adjusted at the end of the cook so that the pectin sets after filling rather than in the pan. Colour, flavour and preservative are added at the same late stage. The hot jam is filled at above 85 degrees Celsius into pails, drums or aseptic bags, sealed, inverted to sterilise the closure and then cooled in a tunnel. Aseptic lines instead pass the product through a heat exchanger and holding tube and fill cold into presterilised bags. Filled containers are held for a setting period before palletising.
