Conserve

This seems to be the category with the least consensus when it comes to a clear definition. Like preserve, the word conserve literally means “to protect” or “to maintain” and, like preserve, it is also used generically to refer to jam or any cooked fruit mixture. Cookbooks and reference books give conflicting definitions, but all seem to agree that when the term conserve is used to describe a cooked fruit mixture, the mixture is not as firmly set as jam, and it contains larger pieces of fruit than the average jam, having a lumpy or chunky consistency. Some sources say that a conserve is a jam made with two or more kinds of fruit, and other sources describe it as containing a mixture of fruits and nuts.