Dont you just LOVE that sound: "plink"! Oh by all means mix those berries up into a jam! Sounds Dee-licious! I haven't made banana jam in so long, might have to do that while waiting for the berry season here in NW Pa. The fruit trees haven't even blossomed yet! Keep canning! Jackie

Here is LindaLou's post to Recipezaar from 2004... 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. Raspberry Chocolate Jam 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 sieve it all if preparing for those with dental problems. Removing seeds causes waste, so be sure you have enough berries.) Measure 6 c 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.

Here, most of my jellies are all low or no sugar, and I use the Pomona pectin. Because of the low/no sugar issue, I like to add some acid blend (tarteric, malic, and citric) to the jellies and jams. This raises the acid level considerably, as well as giving more 'character' to an otherwise mild tasting jam. With a higher acid level, they don't spoil of mold over that easily anymore. I have yet to see mold on any of my opened jars, and some are in the fridge for several months. The blend is what is also used in making wines from grapes, if the grapes are low in acidity. Elsewhere, I have posted a link for this. Fr a typical 5 cup batch, about half a teaspooon of acid blend will bring up its flavor. If you find it too sour, you can increase the sweetener too. Instead of sugar, I will use little honey, and/or a can of frozen juice concentrate that has not been diluted. Weeping for the Pomona pectin is not usual.

I just had some of the tart with some friends at work - they loved it, but I think it needs some revision. First of all, the lemon curd was too sweet, but I think this is because I used Meyer lemons, and I will adjust for that in the future. The other problem was that the edge crust was a bit hard - still tasty and good to eat, but a bit difficult to cut. I think the problem here is that I started the crust at 425 degrees for 11 minutes with the aluminum foil and pie weights and then returned it to the oven for 17 minutes with the oven turned down to 350 degrees. The recipe that called for a 425 oven expected me to put the curd in the crust for the second baking, but I decided not to do that because I knew it was not going to fit, and I had already adjusted the curd recipe so that it would not require baking after being cooked on the stovetop. Also, I took the shortcut of not chilling the dough as long as the recipe called for, but I don't think this would have caused the crust to come out hard. Anyway, no one complained about the crust being hard, and so maybe I just need to serve it with a knife in addition to a fork - the forks were plastic, which didn't help. I pretty much followed Anne Burrell's recipe, except that I used four eggs plus one egg white in the curd plus one tablespoon of cornstarch to help it set without baking. I did refer to Ina's recipe as well, especially the part about pricking the inside of the shell after removing the pie weights. Actually, I forgot to do that before the second baking, but I pricked it after baking to deflate it. One tip of my own that I added was to add the lemon zest to the curd just before cooking it, and I stirred it in with a spoon instead of a whisk. Let me know what suggestions you have regarding the crust. Thanks! Lars