The best jam by far (Hartley's Best Strawberry Jam)

Member Name: aylawarner

Product:	Hartley's Best Strawberry Jam
Date:	14/06/09 (63 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great quality, tastes delicious, no lumpy bits

Disadvantages: Pricey but worth it, heavy jar

I'm not a huge fan of jam but I do occasionally get the odd craving for some strawberry jam so like to have a jar kept at the back of my cupboards for these times. Because I don't often use it I usually just buy a shop's value make but my nan bought a couple of Hartley's jams as they were on a BOGOF offer and gave one to me as she didn't want them both.

Hartley's Best Strawberry Jam comes in a 340g opaque glass jar (quite heavy) with a silver twist lid and the Hartley's symbol on the front over an image of a strawberry. You can see through the jar that the jam is a deep red colour and when you open the lid you can smell a very sweet strawberry scent, much the same as any other strawberry jam. However, the taste is nothing like those of value jams with a much sweeter and purer strawberry taste. The best thing about Hartley's jam though is that, unlike many other jams I've tried, there are no lumpy strawberry bits in it. When you spread it on bread or toast or whatever else you eat it on, it spreads really easily and leaves just the perfect denseness of jam on. It does contain the little dark specks of strawberries, but you can't taste or feel them when eating it, but no lumpy bits whatsoever which makes this a perfect jam for me.

The back label on the jar says that, once opened, it should be kept in the fridge and consumed within 6 weeks. However, as I said I hardly ever eat jam and I've had this jar in my fridge for months. I had some this morning and it tastes exactly the same and just as delicious as it did the first time I opened it!

It is prepared with 45g of fruit per 100g and the total sugar content is 61g per 100g. Hartley's jam products contain 25% more fruit than other standard jams and no artificial colours or flavours which makes them the healthier as well as even more delicious option.

A jar costs £1.17 but can be picked up in both Asda and Tesco for 2 for £2 at the moment. Hartley's strawberry jam can also be bought in a 'no bits' jar or a squeezy tub but this costs a little more and I haven't found any bits in the Best jam anyway! Although a value jam can be picked up for less then 40p, the quality and taste is nowhere near as good as Hartley's Best jam so this will be a permanent resident in my kitchen!

Summary: Hartley's best jam is definitely the best