Bottega Pistho
You will never find a jar labelled "strawberry marmalade" in a European supermarket. That is not a stylistic choice by producers: it is a rule, and knowing how it works changes the way you read a shelf.
The name depends on the fruit, not the recipe
EU Directive 2001/113/EC reserves the term marmalade for products made from citrus alone: orange, lemon, mandarin, grapefruit, citron, bergamot. For every other fruit, the correct denomination is jam.
That is why a jar of strawberries always says "strawberry jam", while a jar of oranges may say "marmalade". In everyday speech we treat them as synonyms, but on the label the distinction is compulsory.
Jam and extra jam: the difference is how much fruit
Within the jam category there are two levels. Ordinary jam must meet a minimum quantity of fruit per kilo of finished product; extra jam must exceed it. That is the only thing separating the two names, and it concerns substance: more fruit means less sugar and less water.
When you compare two jars at the same price and one says "extra", you are comparing two different compositions, not two commercial names.
What changed in June 2026
Directive (EU) 2024/1438 amended 2001/113 and applies from 14 June 2026. It introduces two changes.
- More fruit required. The minimum content for jams rises from 350 to 450 grams per kilo, and for extra jams from 450 to 500. In practice, an extra jam must now be half fruit.
- The term "marmalade" can widen. Member States where consumers habitually use their local word for marmalade as a synonym for jam may authorise its use on their territory for non-citrus fruit too. Where that happens, the denomination reserved for citrus becomes "citrus marmalade".
The stated reason for the change is to encourage reformulation of products high in sugar. More fruit required by law means, mechanically, less room for sugar.
And compote?
Here the answer is surprising: compote is not defined by the regulation in the same way. It is a customary term, generally indicating a product with far more fruit and far less added sugar.
This means "compote" on a label guarantees you no minimum threshold, while "extra jam" does. Paradoxically the name that sounds most artisanal is the least regulated one: the only way to know what is inside is to read the fruit percentage in the ingredient list.
Reading a jar in ten seconds
- Look at the legal denomination, not the fancy name on the front. It is usually in smaller type, near the net weight.
- Find the fruit percentage, which is compulsory: "prepared with X g of fruit per 100 g of product".
- Check where sugar sits in the ingredient list. If it comes first, there is more sugar than fruit.
- Look for pectin and citric acid. They are not dangerous, but their absence usually indicates fruit that sets on its own because there is a lot of it, picked ripe.
Why it is worth knowing
Because the name on the jar is the one piece of information the producer cannot choose freely. Everything else — "artisan", "traditional", "like it used to be" — has no legal definition and guarantees nothing. The legal denomination and the fruit percentage are verifiable.
