Recipe(tried): Chocolate Raspberry Sauce

Chocolate Raspberry Sauce

This jam is a gourmet treat. It is more expensive to prepare than the other off-season preserving recipes I've put in this site but the flavor is worth it. I have had difficulty with this recipe setting up to be too firm so don't make your jar labels until you see how it sets up; then you can call it a spread, a jam, or a fruit elegence depending upon the texture you end up with. Follow heating directions carefully, this recipe is a little touchy about conditions it requires.

If you are preparing this in the off-season, you can use frozen berries, just measure out both the solid berries and the juice. (The juice was inside the berries before freezing broke down some of the cell structure, so you need to use the juice to make the measurement close to that of fresh berries.)

This recipe adapted from Kraft Foods' recipes promoting their pectin products. For best texture use the pectin this recipe was developed for. However, any "low-sugar type" pectin will result in a jam that sets up.

6 cups prepared fruit (about 7 pints fresh raspberries)
3 squares unsweetened chocolate
4 cups sugar
1 box Sure Jel for Lower Sugar Recipes pectin
1/2 teaspoon margarine or butter

Crush berries thoroughly, 1 cup at a time. If using frozen berries, use both liquid and solids; they all were part of the original fresh berry. (Sieve 1/2 of the pulp to remove some seeds if desired. You can seive it all if preparing for those with dental problems. Removing seeds causes waste, so be sure you have enough berries.) Measure 6 cups of crushed fruit into 6 or 8 quart heavy saucepan. Break the chololate squares into smaller pieces and add them to saucepan.

Measure sugar into separate bowl. Mix 1/4 cup sugar from measured amount with pectin in small bowl. Stir pectin-sugar mixture into fruit in saucepan. Add butter. Bring quickly to full rolling boil, add remaining sugar, and boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam and ladle into pint or half-pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace and process 10 minutes in boiling water canner.