Hi all. I’m newbie! What is the difference between jam and jelly?
Depends on which side of the pond you are.
Over here in the UK, jam i s what you spread on bread (toast). Over the other side, they call it jelly. Jelly, over here, is a wobbly dessert that Americans call jello.
I’ve no idea if there is a foodstuff over there called jam. 
Here’s a good explanation from the US side.
Yup, in the UK…
A jelly uses gelatine as a setting agent, either added to the fruit (as in the wobble-wobble-jelly-on-a-plate jello type) or naturally extracted from meat (as in the jelly in a pork pie). Gelatine is an animal byproduct made from either cow gut or more typically in the UK, pig skin.
Jams and Preserves (and Marmalade’s) are similar, and all uses Pectin (which is of fruit origin) as a setting agent. To be called a jam (or a marmalade) in the EU, a product must contain a certain amount of sugar (at least 60% if memory serves me correctly). Marmalades are typically made with citrus fruits and may contain peel. Jams are made with other fruits.
So, technically the “smashing orangey bit” in a Jaffa Cake is a firm-set marmalade and not a jam or a jelly.
Actually, we in the UK also use “jelly” in the sense given in that article, but not to spread on bread, rather to use as a condiment with roast meats, etc. … e.g. Crab Apple Jelly, Rowan Jelly, Mint Jelly (if you don’t like the acidity of mint sauce with your lamb!) …
Mark
Ah yes, forgot about those jellies. Redcurrant jelly used in a sauce goes very well with beef & lamb. 
THE HEATHANS!!! This should not be allowed. Unless it’s you Mr X. Then it is ok.
Thanks a lot. Very useful information.
The GLW doesn’t like mint sauce, and she is a bit less heathen than me!
Mr X
And a further extension to the set, though now rare, is “fruit cheese”, particularly damson cheese. My mother used to make it decades ago. It’s made by cooking a high pectin fruit like damsons with sugar and then rubbing it through a sieve so that it sets firm enough to be cut with a knife. Essentially, from the English viewpoint, the Spanish and associated cultures’ “membrillo” is a quince cheese.
Mr X/Mark
I researched some information and found this article about Difference Between Jams and Jelly | Differencebtwn
Fruit jellies (of the meat accompaniment kind) are only called jellies because they look like actual jellies, but aren’t actually jellies. In the same way that a red panda isn’t a panda, and a bearcat is neither a bear nor a cat. Don’t even get me started on jellyfish.
I used to work in a jelly and jam factory. We take it seriously. We had a special machine to measure wobble.
Jelly Babies, on the other hand are actually jellies. So yes, they’re not vegetarian.
In the US, jellies are strained of seeds and pulp; jams are not. My grandmother made both raspberry jelly and raspberry jam, sometimes from the same batch of raspberries. The cooked pulp meant to become jelly–Grandpa’s store teeth didn’t suffer seeds–got ladled into a jelly bag and strained into jars. The natural pectins in the berries thickened both jam and jelly indiscriminately. Sometimes, if the berries were all full-ripe, she aided the process by shredding a tart apple (full of natural pectin) into the berry mixture before cooking.
Jams, jellies, preserves: further examples of the US and the UK being separated by a common language.
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