Preserve summer's plump, juicy blackberries in these decadent chocolate blackberry preserves — not quite jam, not quite sauce, but tastes delicious on everything from your morning toast to your after-dinner dish of ice cream.
Today's Sunday Supper, hosted by Stacy of Food Lust People Love and Heather of Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks, is all about preserving summer produce. Last year, I tried dehydrating for the first time. This year, I attempted something I've been wanting to do for a long time: canning.
There are several recipes pinned on my Condiment and Sauce Recipes Pinterest board that I want to make, but once I heard about Chocolate-Raspberry Preserves, I knew that's what I was going to make. I went to buy some raspberries, a basket of big, juicy blackberries caught my attention, so I substituted blackberries for raspberries. Let me tell you, the sauce almost didn't make it to the canning stage. It was THAT DELICIOUS.
To be honest, I was scared of canning. If done wrong, the food can spoil and make someone sick. Reading about the process made it seem intimidating. But really? It's not. There are many resources for step-by-step guides to water-bath canning, and finding out WHY things are done a certain way.
Make sure you have a good-sized stainless steel saute pan for cooking the mixture. The blackberry mixture will stain reactive materials like aluminum. Also, the acidic mixture in a reactive pan will leach a metallic flavor into your preserves. So, cook your blackberry mixture in a stainless steel pan. At first it will feel like you're stirring and stirring and nothing is happening, and then almost instantly, the sugar dissolves and mixes with the blackberry juices to form a thick syrup.
The original recipe suggests running the mixture through a food mill, but I don't own one. Instead, I carefully mashed the mixture in the saute pan with a potato masher (didn't want to splash blackberry juice all over the place). Then, I pressed the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve, making sure to scrape the syrup clinging to to the bottom of the sieve into the rest of the juices. If you're feeling lazy, it's perfectly find to leave the seeds in the preserves. You just don't get to complain when they get stuck in your teeth.
There is some special equipment that's needed for canning — rubber-coated tongs, a wide-mouth funnel, and a magnetic lid-lifter, but if you enjoy cooking, and are interested in canning, it's a small investment, and I bet once you get comfortable doing it, you'll be canning all the time. I plan to make this recipe many more times, using all kinds of berries. I've already spread it on my toast, spread it on a slice of pound cake, drizzle it over ice cream, and heck, eaten it straight from the jar on a spoon.
Chocolate Blackberry Preserves
Ingredients
- 22 oz fresh blackberries
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- Juice of half of one lemon
- 4 ½ oz good quality bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
Instructions
- Look through the blackberries and pick out any leaves. Wash and very gently dry any that are dirty. Discard any that are past their prime.
- Place the blackberries and sugar in a stainless steel saute pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar melts and forms a syrup with the blackberry juices.
- Run the blackberries through a food mill (or press through a fine-mesh sieve if you don't have a food mill), and discard any solids.
- Return the liquid to the saute pan, and add the lemon juice. Heat the mixture over medium-high heat until just before it boils. Lower the heat and add the chocolate. Stir slowly with a whisk until uniform in consistency.
- Let the sauce cool for two hours (or, pour into a storage container and refrigerate until ready to process).
- Prepare a stock-pot for canning and wash 3 half-pint mason (or equivalent) jars in hot, soapy water. Keep jars in hot (not boiling) water until ready to use. Warm lids in hot (not boiling) water to sterilize and soften the seal.
- Bring the chocolate-blackberry mixture back to a rolling boil and boil hard for five minutes, stirring constantly.
- Turn off the heat and let the jam rest for two or three minutes. At that point, if the surface wrinkles when pushed gently, it's ready. If not, return to heat. Boil for two minutes, allow to rest, and re-test. Repeat until the preserves reach the desired consistency.
- Ladle hot preserves into jars, leaving ¼-inch of headspace. Wipe jar rims and threads clean with a clean, damp towel. Screw on lids and rings. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Remove from water and let cool completely, 12 to 24 hours. Check seals. Any unsealed jars should be refrigerated and used within 3 weeks.
Slightly adapted from Mes Confitures by Christine Ferber
Discover more recipes for preserving the summer harvest!
Canning
- Blackberry Chia Seed Jam from Books -n- Cooks
- Cherry Lemon Jam from Food Lust People Love
- Chocolate Blackberry Preserves from The Redhead Baker
- Gilded Bluebarb Jam from What Smells So Good?
- Hamburger Dill Chips from A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Piri Piri Hot Sauce from Curious Cuisiniere
- Southwestern Salsa from The Freshman Cook
- Spiced Peach Jam from Cosmopolitan Cornbread
- Spiced Vanilla Rhubarb Jam from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
- Strawberry Balsamic Syrup from Cindy's Recipes and Writings
- Watermelon Butter from Palatable Pastime
Dehydrating
- Blueberry Peach Fruit Roll-Ups from Cupcakes & Kale Chips
- Dried Pineapple from Take A Bite Out of Boca
Fermentation
- Fermented Spicy Daikon Spears + A Cocktail from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
Freezing
- How to Freeze Blueberries from Pies and Plots
- Peach Crisp from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
- Roast Tomato Soup with Basil-Butter Croutons from Caroline's Cooking
Infusing
- Raspberry Vinegar from Magnolia Days
Pickling
- Black Radish Pickles from A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures
- Bread & Butter Pickles from Adventures in All Things Food
- Homemade Bread and Butter Pickles from Life Tastes Good
- Mustard Pickles from Jane's Adventures in Dinner
- Pickled Cherries with Five Spices from Nosh My Way
Preserving in oil or butter
- Garden Herb Butter from An Appealing Plan
- Spinach and Pistachio Pesto from Bobbi's Kozy Kitchen
Stacy says
Great combination, Coleen! I'd love a spoon or two of that on buttered toast!
Renee says
I think I would eat it straight out of the jar with a spoon.
Liz says
I've never heard of adding chocolate to preserves---but I approve! Sounds amazing, Coleen!
Tammi @Momma's Meals says
What a fabulous recipe. Loving the addition of chocolate!
Wendy, A Day in the Life on the Farm says
Oh my gosh, how decadent is this....I am in love and haven't even tasted it yet.
heather says
Sounds yummy! But I don't understand why you would leave it to cool for two hours before processing? Usually when canning you want to can immediately into hot jars while your jam, jelly or syrup is still hot and do your water bath straight away.
Coleen says
Heather, I don't know the reason why. I'm not familiar enough with the ins and outs of canning to know if that part can be skipped -- I just followed another person's recipe. You do heat the mixture up to boiling again before processing.
Christie says
Oh my word! This sounds decadent!
Theresa @DearCreatives says
This sounds so delicious. I can't wait to try your recipe when I get some blackberries.
Sarah Reid, CNP (@jo_jo_ba) says
Oooh yes! I know what's on my list now!
Diamond Skin says
Hello.This article was really interesting, especially since I
was investigating for thoughts on this matter last
Friday.
Jane Waddell says
This is a delicious recipe, and agree that blackberries go just as well with chocolate as raspberries do. However, I would like to offer a word of caution from a long-time canner and Master Food Preserver. Christine Ferber's original recipe calls for 2 3/4 lbs of berries, put through a food mill to yield 2 1/4 lbs puree. By the quantities of the other ingredients, it looks like you've halved the recipe. But, instead of using 1 lb 6 oz of fruit to yield 18 oz of puree, you've called for 18 oz of berries. Because this recipe contains a low acid ingredient (chocolate), precision here is important. The original recipe has a pH that makes it safe to preserve in a boiling water bath. My Extension group tested it. The recipe as you've printed it will have a higher pH (lower acidity), and could be unsafe to process in a boiling water bath.
Coleen says
Thanks for your comment. I updated the recipe.
Cindy Goudy says
What are the necessary steps just to make it an ice cream sauce?
David M Danyels says
I'm going to try this recipe tomorrow.
Maridel says
I LOVE this recipe! It's absolutely delicious! I was wondering if you could do the same thing with cherries and chocolate? Also, if there's a concern about the pH level, could a person just add a little citric acid?
Coleen says
Hi Maridel, I'm not a canning expert, but cherries have roughly the same pH level (if not higher) than blackberries, so it should be okay to make that substitution. Use an equal weight of cherries AFTER pitting.