Chocolate Berry Jam

Continuing my obsession with words, this recipe was originally called "Sundae in a Jar" which I took issue with. I've never had a sundae with raspberries in it. I think of sundae flavor principles as chopped peanuts, whipped cream, maraschino cherries and hot fudge. So I changed this to "Chocolate Berry Jam" because it has nothing to do with sundaes. Although I encourage you to make this yourself, and see if you disagree.

Using fresh strawberries, from Manassero's Farms of course, this is easily my new favorite preserve. It is so bright and fresh, like all good berry jams, but the chocolate brings it to a new level. I want to spoon it over angel food cake and top it with fresh berries. Or just eat it with a spoon. I'm down with that too. Or in a chocolate layer cake! Literally I have been wanting to stuff this in everything. I did not even know chocolate liqueur existed! I ended up going to Bevmo to find it, because Stater Brother's didn't have any chocolate liqueur. I must have expensive taste, because this jam is not only my new favorite preserve, but wins the award for the most expensive. The liqueur alone was 30 dollars!  However, I have plenty more liqueur to make more, since it only has a little bit mixed in this recipe.
Anyways, I ran into a problem with this jam. I had returned Big Bertha after making the rhubarb strawberry pie filling, but I figured a jam recipe wouldn't be undoable without her. After all, I made all the Mother's Day jams and jellies without her help. Oh boy was I wrong!

The jam boiled-over! I had sticky red deliciousness all over my stove. Unfortunately, because my goal was to get the damn stuff into jars as fast as possible, I think I did not let the jam reduce as much as I would normally. Therefore it is a much softer spread, and in the jar the fruit and the liquid jelly separated slightly.  Which is a bummer, but it is just cosmetic and doesn't interfere with the taste. I just stir the fruit and jelly a little bit and spread it on anything.

Moral of the story: I need me a Big Bertha. The problem is that 15+ quart stock pots are so expensive! The alternative would be to get a canner, but then I have a cheap pot that isn't good for actually making stock or big batches of chili, only for water baths.  And with limited space in my apartment, I would rather get a good quality stock pot that can be used for multiple purposes. I have a small stock pot, which I use for my water bath, but then my saucepan gets over-boiled as you see. I need one huge pot for the water bath so I can use my existing stock pot for the making of the jam.

Chocolate Berry Jam

2 1/2 cups washed hulled and crushed strawberries
1 1/3 cup washed and crushed raspberries
1/3 cup chocolate liqueur
6 cups sugar
1 3 ounce pouch of liquid pectin

Prepare jars and lids, as well as starting heating up water for the water bath. Place sugar and berries into a non-reactive, bigger-than-miss-mochi-has saucepan. Heat, stirring constantly, over medium high heat until all sugar has dissolved and jam has reduced a teeny bit. Once the mixture has reached a full rolling boil, boil for about a minute. Then stir in liquid pectin and boil hard for another minute, stirring constantly. Turn off heat, stir in chocolate liqueur and immediately ladle into prepared jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. Process in a water bath for 10 minutes. Store in a cool dark place for up to one year. Makes about 6 half pint jars. This recipe is adapted from Ball's Complete Book of Home Preserving, edited by Judi Kingry and Lauren Devine.

See Also:
Rhubarb Strawberry Pie Filling
Habanero Gold
Pomegranate Jelly