The great jam debate: fridge or pantry?
It’s a debate that’s played out in kitchens across the country: should you store jam in the cupboard or the fridge?
It’s a question Mandy-lee Anderson posed on the Facebook group Mums Who Organise to settle the argument between herself and her New Zealand-raised husband.
She says fridge; he reckons pantry.
The post attracted more than a thousand comments with most agreeing that it should be stored in the fridge.
“It probably depends more on your knife habits,” one woman wrote.
“If your jam has lots of crumbs and butter getting into it, then I would keep it in the fridge.
“The fat of the butter will go rancid and the crumbs will go mouldy — but if you’re a clean knife family it will be fine in the cupboard.”
Mandy-lee’s husband David told news.com.au he couldn’t believe the reaction to his jam preference on social media.
“I absolutely hate having jam in the fridge,” he said.
“In a cold climate it makes no sense to me — but in Queensland I understand because it’s hot so you would keep it in the fridge, but I just don’t like my jam cold, that’s all.”
Their solution to the sticky debate? Keeping two jars of jam – one for the fridge and one for the cupboard.
“His biggest argument was I have warm toast and I hate cold jam on it — but I’m happy to see most people think I’m right,” Mandy-lee said.
However Jan Young from the Country Women’s Association argues that jam should be stored in a cupboard.
“I make a lot of jam and ours is in the cupboard,” she said. “It depends on your climate and how well the jam is made, but if it’s cooked and cooled properly, the cupboard is fine.
“A lot of fig jams have a penchant to crystalize and go hard if you store them in cold temperatures or in the fridge.
“Lemon butters I would definitely refrigerate, but jams no — and a store bought jam wouldn’t go off in a thousand years, it’s got so many preservatives.
“Just make sure you use a clean knife or spoon so you don’t contaminate the jam.
“But really, good jam doesn’t last long enough to be stored anyway,” she said.
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