Like jam, jelly (in the North American sense) is a spread made from fruit and sugar that is thickened with natural or added pectin.

Both jelly and jam are made with crushed fruit, but jelly-makers filter fruit pulp once the mixture has been heated so that the resulting jelly is clear and devoid of fruit chunks.

Jelly can be sweet (as in the ever-popular grape jelly), savory (like the mint jelly that accompanies roasted lamb on old-fashioned British tables) or hot (such as jalapeño jelly).