Jams & Preserves

The natural bounty of Italy is truly breathtaking, but as with all seasonal delights, preserving it to be enjoyed all year-round has been a puzzle for millennia. That’s why Italian home cooks and professionals alike have turned to elegant fruit jams and other preserves to enjoy all the lusciously sweet fruit flavors of summer just a little longer, from the first strawberries of spring to late summer peaches and even autumn’s quince.

Jam is brilliant in the mornings, on toast or yogurt; in baking treats like sandwich cookies, tarts, or jam crostatas; and even as a quick dessert topping over vanilla ice cream or gelato. It’s even wonderful in savory applications—one of Giada’s favorite tricks to add flavor and moisture to large roasts is to brush them with jam in the oven. And of course, there’s an art to pairing fruity preserves with Italy’s many delicious cheeses, from fragrant quince jam with aged parmigiano-reggiano to rich fig jam with creamy ricotta.

Wine jellies are an Italian delicacy, also often served alongside a cheese board and showcasing a region’s most beloved local grape varietal. Dessert wines and dry reds, whites, and sparkling wines alike can be reduced to a sweet-and-savory syrup that’s jellied for a truly delightful new condiment. Then there are the world-famous amarena cherries, perfected at a small distillery in Emilia-Romagna in 1915 and virtually unchanged since then. The small, sour local cherries are candied in a rich syrup that’s fortified with the cherries’ juice, infusing each ruby-colored gem with a veritable explosion of concentrated sweet-tart flavor. The cooking process also gives the cherries a dense, chewy texture that's unmistakably elegant. They’re insisted upon by top bartenders for their cocktails—you’ll never want a Manhattan garnished with anything else again!

Find a wide selection of jams, jellies, and sweet preserves from across Italy here, all made with natural ingredients and no junky fillers.