MICRO-REVIEW: New Smuckers Fruit & Honey Blueberry Lemon Fruit Spread & Favorite “J” In Your PB&J?
Quick question JFG Nation – many of us each peanut butter & jelly. Hell, I think I do at least once a day. And while we all have our preference as to the type of peanut butter (chunky, smooth, full of chia seeds, loaded with Nutella), I want to know what your jam is….literally. What jelly/jam/preserves are your FAVORITE to put on the fruit side of things?
As an example, the JFGal NEEDS to have raspberry. Period. She will throw strawberry back in your face. Meanwhile, I am a strawberry mark. GIVE ME STRAWBERRY OR GIVE ME DEA* ….WELL, GIVE ME A SUITABLE REPLACEMENT. ACTUALLY, I’M NOT THAT PICKY. (But I like strawberry best!)
And you, JFG Nation? Let me know in the comments below.
Today’s “junk food”: New Smuckers Fruit & Honey Blueberry Lemon Fruit Spread!!
New Smuckers Fruit & Honey Blueberry Lemon Fruit Spread: The Money Shot
Ok, I’ll say right off the bat that I know this New Smuckers Fruit & Honey Blueberry Lemon Fruit Spread is NOT “junk food,” per se. Just a cool new product that I had to try, and had to eat. When I first went to Target, I spotted all four of the new Smuckers Fruit & Honey flavors:
OOOO, Tropical! I only wanted to buy one to try, and both the JFGal and I agreed that Blueberry Lemon caught our eyes right away. At the Summer Fancy Food Show, I did notice more and more companies pairing blueberries with lemons in various things – drinks, teas, ices, etc.
I opened the jar of this New Smuckers Fruit & Honey Blueberry Lemon Fruit Spread, and sniffed – strong blueberry aroma. Very sweet smelling. I spooned a bit out with a spoon, and noticed that there were FULL ON BLUEBERRIES in this mix! Holy moly. I can see now why this really isn’t considered a jam or a jelly – the fruit itself is intact, cooked down and suspended in honey and pectin mix. I don’t want to over describe it – this was basically like a chunky, full-fruit, jelly/jam.
I took a big spoonful right into my mouth – WOW. REALLY good flavor. The blueberries were soft yet still had a good chew to them; they didn’t turn into mush right away. They were bursting with blueberry flavor. The rest of the spread was really sweet, and the lemon flavor paired with the blueberry perfectly. Blueberries are good, but they sometimes lack the tang and sweeter edge of a citrus fruit. The lemon here helped pick up the back end of the blueberry flavor and pushed it more in that direction. Really complementary.
And the honey? I guess it helped sweeten the whole pot, but I also did taste a tiny bit of it on the backend of the swallow. Which was nice – provided a sort of natural finish to the spoonful. The finished result was very pleasing – the whole spoonful was sweet but didn’t feel like it was superloaded with melted sugar or corn syrup. Not cloying.
All in all, I LOVED this. I highly recommend.
PURCHASED AT: Target, Germantown, MD
COST: $2.50
Thoughts? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. I also have Google+!! Let’s hang out.
Sincerely,
Junk Food Guy
Discuss - 26 Comments
My favorite is orange marmalade actually…but I’ll take strawberry/raspberry or pretty much anything BUT grape is my least favorite. Then again, when was the last time I actually had PB&J? It’s usually PB&B, or cream cheese or apple or honey…
@Jessica: Oh, love the orange marmalade choice.
My favorite is the Smuckers Orchards Finest line, specifically the Michigan Tart Cherry….so good. The mixed berry and strawberry ones are solid too
I agree that the Orchards Finest Michigan Tart Cherry is the best jam out there. I don’t really like it in a PB & J, but it’s amazing on toast or waffles. Heck, I’ll eat a spoonful or two straight out of the jar. How do they make that stuff so good?!
@Matt: Ok, now I need to try this Michigan Tart Cherry
I’ll eat just about anything on a PB&J but my favorites are the “yellow jelly”. Apricot is usually what fits that niche but Peach will do and right now I have a jar of Wegmans “triple fruit” that is apricot, peach and passion fruit all in one.
I also love a good orange marmalade on toast but not with PB.
My husband is 95% grape jelly but will settle for blackberry or strawberry.
@Helen: WHOA WHOA WHAO. Wegmans has a triple fruit of apricot, peach and passion fruit?????? *getting in car now*
ooh.. these sound so good! i’ll be on the lookout. i’m obsessed with lemon flavored anything, so i definitely want to try that one first! i don’t normally even add jelly to my pb sandwich, though – i like creamy pb with honey and sometimes banana slices. BUT when i do add jelly, i always use strawberry 🙂 i hate grape.
@Kaitlyn: Yes, try this, and let me know what you think
Open to most any jelly but the critical thing is CASHEW butter.
@MarcP: Were you the one who told me about sunflower oil too? I may have to try this cashew butter
I can’t take credit for the oil. But will when you enjoy the cashew butter!
My perfect PB & J: honey wheat bread, Jif Peanut Butter (smooth) and strawberry jam. I have been known to go old school on occasion with white bread and grape jelly though. I’m not too picky on the jam/jelly brand, but I gotta have my Jif. None of that Skippy or Peter Pan business. 😉 I tried the strawberry flavor of this Smucker’s Fruit and Honey Spread. I couldn’t really taste the honey, but it did give it a nice consistency and sweetness. I didn’t try it in a PB & J, but I bet it’d be tasty.
My favorite is Stonewall Kitchen Wild Maine Blueberry Jam. Indescribably delicious. I sometimes don’t even bother with bread or peanut butter- I just eat it straight out of the jar!
@ PL ISley – Adding it to my list of must try!
All the way old school smucker’s strawberry or grape. This fruit spread almost sounds like you could put it in a pie….or at least inside a crescent roll up!
@Sarah: YES. Inside a crescent roll. WIN
Looked at the picture on spoon and think to myself.. ok.. it’s a weird consistency of globs… read rest of review and… Great Googly Moogly! Whole fruits!
I’m a strawberry girl myself; can’t stand grape! Perhaps too many school lunches with grape jelly done me in.. I’d be into raspberry if I was actually able to *find* the seedless one. I was totally into “Mixed” (apple and grape) jelly too for a bit.
@Pimousse: I KNOW! WHOLE FRUITS!
Those of you who like the Smucker’s Michigan Tart Cherry, if you ever come across Brownwood Farms Michigan Cherry Preserves, grab them. Widely available in MI; more limited to specialty shops elsewhere, but top notch.
Not really a PB&J J, but great on rye bread and myriad other things.
@JJ: Damn that Brownwood Cherry Preserves DOES look good. Would love to review it!
Is that stuff spreadable? Looks really thin, like no way you’re making a sandwich with it, maybe carefully spread it on some toast if you’re not just scarfing it with a spoon.
My favorite is probably strawberry, but I have a rotation of probably half a dozen I make regularly that are all good, peach is great, and there’s a great vanilla pear. Really, all the jams/jellies. Apple, cherry, pineapple, grape, blueberry, raspberry…
@Dana: Wait, you MAKE jam/jelly? Vanilla pear???
Of course, doesn’t everyone? 😉
Except here and there for something unusual I haven’t bought jam for years. Vanilla pear is pretty awesome – worth cutting up a pile of pears into tiny pieces…couple of vanilla beans scraped in there…as good as it sounds.
http://foodinjars.com/2011/02/pear-vanilla-jam/
I’m pretty old school when it comes to Pbj’s grape all the way….but I am a jam and preserve junkie. I love me some wheat toast with a schmear of jam or preserves. Let’s not neglect the pumpkin butter. I am so glad you reviewed the new smuckers line I saw it in the store and have been dying to try it.
@Inajam: Yeah the new Smuckers Honey line is great – let me know what you think!