Thursday, September 19, 2013

A Party for Your Mouth: Raspberry Chipotle Jam!

Fresh raspberries & dried chipotle peppers
End of summer brings the last of the berries.  Are raspberries still in season where you live?  Run, I say RUN to the farmer's market, the backyard or your favorite purveyor and procure a stash of raspberries!  Compared to strawberries, blackberries and blueberries, raspberries are more tart than sweet.  However, that tart flavor works to full effect in jam.  What could be better than Raspberry Jam, you ask?  Raspberry Chipotle Jam, which is essentially raspberry jam with a smokey kick.  Faint of heart (or taste bud) when it comes to spicy food?  Omit the chipotles.

Sounds yum, but I can't imagine a Raspberry Chipotle PB&J.  Well, of course not.  How about a baked Brie topped with Raspberry Chipotle Jam? Pour it over cream cheese and serve with crispy multi-grain crackers. Try it on cornbread.  Really.  Use it as a glaze on grilled chicken, pork or fish.  Put a dollop on a buttered biscuit or yeast roll.  Heat it just a little and drizzle it over dark chocolate almond ice cream.

What is a chipotle pepper, anyway?  Chipotle peppers are smoked jalapeños.  For this luscious jam, you may use chopped, rehydrated dried chipotle peppers or ground chipotle powder.  Check your local Latin grocery for chipotles and ground chipotle powder.  Badia makes a lovely chipotle powder; chipotle peppers may be hard to find.  I bought dried chipotles in bulk from Dekalb Farmers Market.  If you'd like to use dried whole chipotle peppers, follow the method described in my Ode to Spicy Sauces post.  If you want quick and easy, use ground chipotle powder.

How long is this going to take? That depends.  I can whip up a batch in about an hour, because I've done this A LOT.  If you are a newbie, allow yourself 2 hours.  It takes a while for that big old water bath canner full of water to heat.  Waiting around on things to boil takes the most time. A watched pot and all that...

Raspberry Chipotle Jam
Raspberry Chipotle Jam
Yield: 6 to 8 half-pint jars
6 cups raspberry puree, measured after pressing through a sieve or food mill to remove most of the seeds
3 dried chipotle peppers, rehydrated and finely diced, OR 3 tsp. ground chipotle powder
3 Tb. no- or low-sugar pectin (bulk equivalent to 1 box)
4 cups raw turbinado sugar

Supplies
Water bath canner or large stock pot with insert and lid
Canning jars, lids and bands
Canning accessory kit  (You need this.  Really.  You will save yourself painful burns and broken canning jars by making friends with this fact early in your canning career.  No, you cannot successfully use kitchen tongs as a jar lifter. Not even the rubberized ones.  I have scars).  The canning accessory kit contains:

  • Jar lifter
  • Canning funnel
  • Magnetic lid lifter
  • Headspace ruler

Dish towels or several layers of newspaper to protect the counter or tabletop from drips and hot jars
Sharpie or other permanent marker to label lids

Notes
*You will need approximately 4 pounds of raw berries for each batch of jam.  Discard any fuzzy or obviously bad fruit.  Don't ruin your batch, waste your time and effort by trying to be frugal.
*Chop rehydrated chipotles in a food processor or high powered blender.  Don't use your 25 year old Oster basic blender; you will burn the motor out.
*You may substitute 1 box of no- or low-sugar pectin for the 3 Tb. bulk, if you can find it.  Stores seem to have shifted to the Ball "flex batch" bulk packaging instead of the boxed Sure-Jell. Pricing on pectin varies widely, so do your due diligence.  As a rule, you will usually pay more for supplies at a grocery store.  Ace Hardware is a wonderful canning resource. Do NOT substitute regular or liquid pectin.  Each type of pectin requires a different method and different fruit to sugar ratios.  This is a low sugar recipe and will not set if you use regular or liquid pectin.
*White or brown sugar (light or dark) may be substituted for raw sugar and work equally as well.  Raw and brown sugars will add a hint of molasses, which enhances the flavor.

Method

  1. Put water bath canner on the stove.  Fill half-way with clean water.  If you have hard water in your area, add 1 c. white vinegar.  Cover and turn burner to high.  It will take a while to heat this much water.  If the canner begins to boil before you are ready to process the jars, turn the heat down to medium low.
  2. Wash canning jars, lids and bands in very hot, soapy water.  Rinse well.  Jars do not need to be sterilized because the jam will be processed 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.  See sterilizing canning jars.  You'll need to keep them warm to avoid shock breakage when you fill them with nearly boiling jam.  Put clean jars (one or two more than you think you'll need) in a 9x13 pan.  Pour 1 inch of water into pan, surrounding the jars.  Place pan with jars in the oven and set for 225 degrees.  Leave the jars in the hot oven until you are ready to use them.
  3. Place lids (one or two more than you think you'll need) in a small pot.  Fill with clean water so that all lids are submerged.  Place lid on pot, put pot on stove and set burner to low/ simmer.  
  4. Rinse and sort berries.  Discard any molded or spoiled fruit.
  5. Puree berries.  If you do not have a blender, you may crush the berries using a potato masher or pastry blender.

  6. Process puree with a food mill or press the puree through a sieve to remove most of the seeds.  Raspberry seeds are tiny and it is difficult to make a truly seedless raspberry jam.

  7. Measure 6 cups of seedless puree for jam.  Reserve any extra for other purposes or next batch. (Pureed, strained raspberry puree may be frozen for future use.  Be sure to label your container. Raspberry puree is hard to distinguish from strawberry puree when frozen).

  8. Whisk in chopped, rehydrated chipotles or 3 tsp. chipotle powder.
     
  9. Bring raspberry mixture to a boil. 
  10. While you are waiting for the raspberry mixture to boil, measure sugar into a small bowl and set aside.
    4 cups raw Turbinado sugar
  11. Once raspberry mixture has begun a gentle boil, whisk in 3 Tb. no- or low-sugar pectin.  Stir until dissolved and return to a boil.
  12. Add in sugar, all at once, whisking to incorporate and dissolve sugar.  Turn heat up to medium high and stir frequently.
  13. When mixture reaches a hard boil that cannot be stirred down, boil for 1 minute.
    Hard boil stage
  14. Turn off heat.  
  15. Skim foam, if necessary.  Foam is delicious, but doesn't look pretty in jars of jam.  Let it cool a bit and then sample to see what your jam will taste like when finished.
  16. Place canning funnel in jar.  Use a 1 cup measure to fill jars.  Fill up to what appears to be the rim.  When you remove the funnel, the jam level will go down a bit.
  17. Fill all jars as quickly as possible.  Jam will seem very liquid at this stage, but will firm after processing and cooling.  
  18. Remove air bubbles in jam by stirring gently around the perimeter.  A clean chopstick works well.
  19. Wipe rims of jars with a moistened paper towel or clean dish towel.  Any jam residue left on the rims will prevent jars from sealing, so don't skip this step.
  20. Using magnetic lid lifter, remove lids from simmering water and lightly place on filled jars.  Gently place rings over lids, aligning with threads on jar, and screw down to resistance (fingertip tight) but not more.
  21. Using the jar lifter, place jars into canner.  Close lid.  Turn up heat to medium high.  Start timing from a gentle boil.
    Filled jars in the canner
  22. Process jars 10 minutes.  Turn off heat and remove lid.  Allow jars to rest in canner for 5 minutes.  Using the jar lifter, remove jars to a counter or table covered in dish towels to absorb any drips and protect the surface from heat.
  23. You should hear a "popping" sound that indicates the jars are sealing.  Allow jars to cool for 24 hours without moving.  Check seals; any jar lids that make a "clicking" sound when you press down on them are not sealed.  Refrigerate and enjoy now, or reprocess.
  24. To reprocess unsealed jars, remove lids and bands, wipe down rims and inspect for cracks or nicks.  If jar rim has an imperfection, put jam into another jar.  If no imperfections are found, wipe rim and replace old lid (you can't use it again) with a new, heated lid, replace bad and reprocess in the water bath canner the same way you did originally.
  25. Remove bands from sealed jars.  Wash in hot, soapy water to remove any residue.  Bugs love residue.  Don't skip this step.
  26. Label jar lids and store jam in a cool, dark place.

   You did it!  Congratulations.  I hope the process was empowering.  Be sure to tell me what you think!

Blessings,
Wyndy

Helpful Links
Sterilizing canning jars
How to use a water bath canner
National Center for Home Food Preparation

1 comment:

  1. Yumm! I've been buying raspberries every day so I can have a fresh cup as dessert. Have I mentioned that I'm dieting? I've lost two pounds Surprisingly, two makes more of a difference than I thought.

    Very cool how-to, Wyndy.

    ReplyDelete