By Denise Purcell

Sales of sweet spreads—defined as jams/jellies/preserves/ fruit butters, honey, and peanut and other nut butters—experienced an inflation-adjusted 2 percent decline between 2000 and 2005, reports Mintel International.

The drop is largely related to recent diet fads. Sweet spreads are strongly tied to carb consumption; Mintel’s research reveals that 96 percent of consumers who use jam, jelly, preserves or fruit butters do so with bread, toast or bagels. Linking sweet spreads to whole grains, which are gaining attention as “good carbs,” may benefit the category. In addition, weight-consciousness is growing sales of low-sugar and sugar-free jams, jellies and honeys.

Sweet spread use is also limited by the quest for convenience. Even assembling a peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich is perceived as time consuming for today’s harried lifestyles.

New Products
More than 1,100 new sweet spreads have been rolled out since 2000, reports Mintel’s Global New Products Database (GNPD). Introductions in 2004 were up 11 percent over the previous year. There were 221 new sweet spread products this year, as of mid-August.

Recent New Product Introductions
•Robert Rothschild Farm Chai Apple Preserves
•Mel-O Honey Fruit ‘N Honey Spread
•La Cucina Rustica Peach Honey
•Stonewall Kitchen Peach Pomegranate Jam
•Madhava Mountain Gold Clover Honey
•Crabtree & Evelyn Traditional English Country Lemon Curd
•Kozlowski Farms Sonoma County Classics Pumpkin Butter
•Chambord Royal Fig Deluxe Preserves
•Lamb’s Farm Spiced Peach Preserves
•Fruits & Passion Orange, Cranberry & Cardamom Spread

Denise Purcell is managing editor of Specialty Food Magazine.