strawberry jam vs grape jam

[Ohioguy]

At the store I often try to buy 1 large container of both strawberry
and grape jam. No matter which store I'm shopping at, I've noticed that
the strawberry jam tends to be about 40% to 50% more. I tend to think
of strawberry being more popular, but that is probably because I grew up
on a farm with 3 acres of strawberries, and we always had plenty of
strawberry jam. Since we always had plenty of that, we rarely bought
any grape.

Yesterday my wife and I were having a discussion about why one might
cost that much more than the other.

My guess was that the grape jam is made from the more solid leftovers
from making grape jelly. However, everything I read online seemed to
indicate that grape jam (on the large scale) is made from pulverizing
whole fruit.

So, I'm still curious. Anyone have any ideas that would explain the
price discrepancy? Thanks!

[Vic Smith]

Hey, thanks. I think you gave me a subject for my PhD thesis in
Economics.
Tentative title is "Supply and Demand Effects on Jam Pricing."
So far, that's also my best answer to your question.

--Vic

[The Real Bev]

I'd guess that growing strawberries is more-labor-intensive than growing
concord grapes.

I used to be able to buy Welch's concord grape preserves, which contain
lots of slimy little whole concord grapes. I haven't seen that for decades.

Preserves are MUCH better than jam, and Knott's is way better than
Smuckers. Unfortunately, both Sam's and Costco stopped carrying Knott's
in favor of Smucker's.

--
Cheers, Bev
*****************************************************************
"...and then I'll become a veterinarian because I love children."
-- Julie Brown

[Rod Speed]

Ohioguy wrote:

Its much more likely to be due to the different cost of the strawberrys and grapes.

[Malcom "Mal" Reynolds]

In article <8vp6fl...@mid.individual.net>,
"Rod Speed" <rod.sp...@gmail.com> wrote:

duh!

[The Real Bev]

On 04/02/11 13:50, Derald wrote:

>
> The Real Bev<bashl...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>Preserves are MUCH better than jam, and Knott's is way better than
>>Smuckers.

> "Bonne Mamain", "Hero": Yum

Trop cher.

--
Cheers, Bev
=====================================================================
If violence isn't solving the problem, you're not using enough of it.

[Ohioguy]

> then you know that strawberries suitably ripe for jam-making are exceedingly
> fragile -- at least as much so as ripe blueberries. They bruise easily and
> oxidize rapidly even when chilled.

Hmm, I hadn't thought of that. We had to replant the strawberries
every 5 years or so to keep production up. I think grape vines can be
productive for decades, so that would explain part of it.

I guess because we had loads of strawberries, and I saw other folks
around the area with strawberries, I tended to think of them as more
readily available than grapes.

[Jeff]

Ohioguy <no...@none.net> wrote in
news:4d99f6aa$0$4945$a826...@postbox2.readnews.com:

Another consideration is harvesting time. Grapes are cut off in bunches at
once versus one at a time for strawberries.