The jam-and-spread brand Bonne Maman released its 2022 Advent calendar, whose 2021 version sold out. The calendar has 24 spreads to try and retails at $40 — a 600% price markup per 100 grams of jam.

These jam calendars are the latest in a long European tradition of observing Advent. Starting in the early 19th century, German Lutherans logged the days leading up to Christmas by marking walls ...