Jam goes in glass: it's filled hot, sealed, and has to keep on a shelf for a year. The everyday choice is an 8-ounce jelly jar with a two-piece lid, the jar home canners know; a hex jar with a lug lid looks more like a shop's; 4-ounce jars suit samplers and favors; and a gift box of three small jars sells in December. The jar is most of the cost, and the label has to say more than the flavor. In the example below, a Michigan preserves maker prices four options: $1.01 to $4.87 a package.
The short version
- Glass jars, filled hot and sealed, for a year on the shelf.
- Jelly jars with two-piece lids are the everyday choice.
- Hex jars with lug lids look like a shop's.
- Small jars in a gift box sell in December.
- A low-sugar jam can't be called jam: it's a fruit spread.
- Ingredients, net weight, name and address, allergens.
- TaroStack puts the jar and lid in each jam's cost. More below.
The options
| Option | Size | Looks | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 oz jelly jar | 8 oz | Homemade | Markets, grocers |
| 8 oz hex jar, lug lid | 8 oz | Shop | Gift shops, grocers |
| 4 oz jelly jar | 4 oz | Small | Samplers, favors |
| Gift box of three 4 oz jars | Three 4 oz | Gift | Holiday gift shops |
Jars are filled hot, capped, and processed or inverted as the recipe's process calls for, and every lid is new; the band of a two-piece lid can be reused, the flat can't. What the label must say is in jam labeling requirements.
The label
A jar's label lists its ingredients in order by weight (21 CFR 101.4), the name and place of business (21 CFR 101.5) and the net quantity (21 CFR 101.105), and declares any major allergen (21 U.S.C. 343(w)). "Jam" is a standardized name: at least 45 parts fruit to 55 parts sugar and 65% soluble solids, so a lower-sugar jam is sold as a "fruit spread", as standard of identity food explains. This is general information, not legal advice.
An example: four options for a preserves maker
Old Mission Preserves, the made-up preserves maker in Traverse City, Michigan, I use in these examples, fills about 600 jars a week in cherry season, for markets, grocers and gift shops:
| Option | Parts | Per package | 600 a week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 oz jelly jar | Jar and lid $1.10, label | $1.16 | $697.20 |
| 8 oz hex jar, lug lid | Hex jar and lid $1.20, label | $1.26 | $757.80 |
| 4 oz jelly jar | Jar and lid 95¢, label | $1.01 | $606.30 |
| Gift box of three 4 oz jars | Three jars, box $1.80, three labels | $4.87 | $2,920.50 |
Markets and grocers get jelly jars; the gift shops on the peninsula take hex jars, which cost a dime more and sell for a dollar more. The gift box adds $1.80 of box to three small jars, so it's priced as a gift, not as three jams. The year around the kettle is in jam business plan.
Get the calculator
Download the jam packaging calculator. Two sheets: components, each part of each option with its pack price, units, how many a package uses and waste; and compare, each option's cost per package and per week at your volume, with notes. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
A cost sheet doesn't know which batch of cherries is in which jar. When a grocer asks about one jar, or a lot of pectin is recalled, the jars it went into have to be found.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each batch's lot, the packaging in its cost, and where every case went.
Each batch a lot. Each batch of jam records the ingredient lots it used, gets its own lot and dates, and lot labels print for the packages.
Packaging in the recipe. The jars, lids and labels are items in each jam's recipe, so every batch uses them up at the price you paid, and the count of what's left stays current.
Where it went. Each customer's order records the lots it got, so one recall report shows every customer a batch reached.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Which batch is in a package | Written on it | The lot on its label |
| Jars, lids and labels left | Counted when you run out | Used by every batch |
| Which shops got a batch | Invoices | One recall report |
Lots, batches, recipes and true cost are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.