Does the sugar in honey bind up water as well as sucrose does? With the chocolate, I'd be wary of changing anything else. Isn't there sugar in the chocolate anyway?

Melissa

It may be that you would have to expirement with adding honey. Keep in mind that it may not set the same as cane sugar. Honey also tends to scorch if its boiled too much. Honey of different types, themsleves can vary the taste drastically, so if you have a delicate raspberry and chocolate flavor combination, the honey you use may give it a different taste entirely. Another option is raw sugar (Turbinare) which has the molasses and the other essentials that are not refined out of the cane sugar. It to can burn if cooked too long. If your using a pectin, it might work, but without some experimentation, its going to be very difficult to know the end result. About all you can do is start off with the two main ingredients, and then add the sweetener for just one cup of the final product. Then try a different sweetener or ratio, and see what that does for just one cup. Chocolate can also vary in quality and taste, Dutch process, milk, dark, bittersweet, 50% cocoa butter, 60% or even higher. All these have to also be factored in to the final product. Finally a fructose sugar, even though refined as a white granulated product somewhat, is usually derived from fruits or corn. It too can scorch quite easily. I used it long ago and found you needed less, as once the spread is chilled it tends to improve sweetness. Thats the reason they use fructose in many sweetened drinks.

Good luck!

JMO but I wouldn't try it. Chocolates already a low acid so the safety of the recipe is dependent on the ratio of berries to chocolate AND the use of the sugar as a binding agent. It would seem that the raw sugar would be a safer option.

There is a question in my mind as to why someone who won't eat refined sugar would even be interested in a jam, much less one with chocolate in it. Seems to be a bit inconsistent like a "I'll have the cake and eat it too" situation.

You can't please everyone and trying to often gets you into trouble. ;)

Dave

I'm not sure if you're referring to Raspberry Chocolate with Cocoa (not an issue) or Raspberry Chocolate with real chocolate (may be an issue) so I'm going to ignore that and respond only to the honey question itself.

Honey presents some challenges in jam-making. Generally it doesn't react with the fruit and acid in the same way as sugar. It has a different structure and the results will also be different.

Honey is acid. In one way it's an advantage in that it makes honey a less-hospitable environment for bacteria, but the acid in the honey can throw off the sugar-acid-pectin balance.

Honey is more liquid, and you have to cook the jam longer to a higher temperature than sugar to achieve a set.

For future reference, the rule of thumb is with added pectin you can replace up to one cup of the sugar with one cup of honey. If its a "no-commercial-pectin" recipe, you can replace up to half the sugar with honey. Honey does have more sweetening power and at higher levels not only are there problems with the gel but also the flavor of the honey tends to mask the flavor of the fruit.

Unless you can find and adapt a raspberry jam recipe designed for honey, 100% honey + commercial pectin (excepting Pomona) = syrup so some measure of sugar is inevitable. Otherwise it just won't set.

Carol

Powdered cocoa would be fine, as there is a lot less fat in it. Honey CAN contain botulism spores, as its not recommend to give to babies under 2!! If you do use honey, be sure that the acid level is high enough to stop it. A good way is to add some acid blend to the mixture. This is 1/3 each citric, malic, and tarteric acids. They are all fruit based and help to reduce the overpowering cloying of sugar or sugar substitiutes. The acid blend can be found at many wine and beer making supply stores. I like using it in al my jellies and jams as it helps to give 'character' and a bolder flavor.

On a one-to-one basis, neither light, mild honey nor corn syrup can substitute fully for sugar.

Honey can replace part of the sugar in recipes for jelly and related products, but not all of it. Products made with honey will have a darker color than those made with sugar as the only sweetening. The flavor, of course, will be slightly different.

Light, mild-flavored honey is best to use when making jelly. Consider its liquid content when it replaces part of the sugar in a recipe.

If you make jelly and add pectin, up to one cup honey can replace an equal amount of granulated sugar. For recipes that do not call for added pectin, honey can still replace up to half the sugar that is needed.