Syrup keeps canned and jarred fruit looking as fresh and appealing as it did when it was first picked, preserving its color, flavor, and shape. Fruit can be stored in heavy or light syrup, terms that can give you a good idea of the amount of sugar added to the syrup, but there are also other differences between the two types.

Heavy syrup generally consists of sugar, water, and corn syrup. Since volume is determined by weight, and heavy syrup weighs more, there's also less fruit in cans with heavy syrup; a 15 ½ ounce can of fruit in heavy syrup has about 2/3 cup of syrup in it, while a 15-ounce can of fruit in light syrup has just over ½ a cup of syrup.

Meanwhile, light syrup typically consists of only sugar and water, so these products contain much less sugar. My Food Diary says that fruit cocktail canned in heavy syrup contains 36.7 grams of sugar after draining, while peaches canned in light syrup contain 16.6 grams; your choice depends on how much sweetness you can take.