Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are a staple around here. They’re easy to make and pack for school or work lunches, or they make a simple and tasty snack at home. Aldi sells some pretty good fruit preserves and premium fruit spreads that we use regularly. They’re delicious not just in sandwiches but also spread atop English muffins, cornbread, or scones.
During the summer, Aldi also rotates some specialty fruit spreads and jams onto its shelves as limited-time specials. Last year, I bought their Strawberry Rhubarb Summer Fruit Spread to try, and it was a hit among my family. My teenager especially enjoyed making PB & J sandwiches with it for school lunches. So when the Strawberry Rhubarb flavor showed up again this summer, I picked it up. I also bought a Watermelon Summer Fruit Spread that was sold in the same mixed case.
Berryhill Summer Fruit Spreads cost $3.29 for an 11.2-ounce jar at the time of publication. These are both products of Belgium. As mentioned above, these come in Watermelon or Strawberry Rhubarb flavors.
These are Aldi Finds, so they’re only in stores for a short time. Each store gets one shipment, and after that sells out, they’re gone until whenever Aldi decides to bring them back, possibly not until next year. Aldi does not offer online ordering for products that are not in stock at your local store.
For the most part, these have a lot of easily recognizable ingredients, which I appreciate.
The Watermelon spread contains watermelon, sugar, water, citric acid, pectins, blackcurrant juice concentrate, citric acid, and natural flavor.
The Strawberry Rhubarb spread contains sugar, strawberries, rhubarb, water, pectins, and citric acid.
Nutrition information and ingredients for Watermelon on the left, Strawberry Rhubarb on the right.
These have 35 calories per 1-tablespoon serving, along with no fat or sodium, 9 grams of carbohydrates (3% DV), no dietary fiber, 9 grams of total sugars, and 8-9 grams of added sugars (16-17% DV). These do have some added sugars, but that’s common with many jams and fruit spreads. Added sugar is especially common in anything that contains rhubarb, which needs a little sweetness to balance the tart flavor.
Watermelon on the left, Strawberry Rhubarb on the right.
As far as taste, these are spot on. The Watermelon is smooth and has a soft gel-like consistency, and it tastes exactly like watermelon. While it also contains blackcurrant juice concentrate, it mostly just tastes like watermelon. I like this on buttered toast or English muffins, as it seems like watermelon would be a strange flavor combo on a PB & J sandwich. When I served this on toast, my husband, who does not like watermelon all that much, actually said it was pretty good, which is high praise.
The Strawberry Rhubarb flavor has a thinner, more runny consistency with visible strands of rhubarb, but the rhubarb is soft and not at all stringy. It has a nice balance between sweet strawberry and tart rhubarb flavors. It’s a more traditional fruit spread option compared to the more novel Watermelon flavor and probably pairs better with peanut butter if you’re wanting to make a sandwich.
The Verdict:
Berryhill Summer Fruit Spreads are sold in Watermelon or Strawberry Rhubarb varieties. These both taste as advertised and are pretty delicious. The Watermelon flavor gets bonus points for being different, as we can’t think of many other fruit spreads that feature watermelon. We like these spreads on toast, English muffins, cornbread, rolls, or on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
