Yeah, it sucks when stuff doesn't come out edible after all that work. We got some luscious peaches (I mean really luscious peaches - better than I've eaten in ten years) and DH begged for some peach jam. I peeled those puppies, cut them into incredibly identical pieces (I'm seeing visions of blue ribbon winning county fair entry here 'cause these peaches are wonderful), started measuring the sugar (the recipe called for 7-1/2 cups) and...only had six cups. Raided DH's sugar jar and came up with another 1/2 cup. Continued the process anyway, let it sit, stirred every five seconds, got those luscious pieces of perfectly chopped peaches suspended perfectly in a beautiful golden syrup, BWB'd it, sat back and said "YES, beyooteeful, food styling worthy of photography, jars of jam". I'm now having visions of State Fair blue ribbon stuff here. DH swiped one out of the pantry today for breakfast. He couldn't find the words to describe the flavor, so he looked in my thesaurus and found: abhorrent, abominable, awful, detestable, disgusting, foul, fulsome, gross, hateful, hideous, loathsome, nasty, nauseating, noisome, odious, offensive, rebarbative, repugnant, repulsive, revolting, shocking, sickening, vile, yucky. I personally voted for "so incredibly sickening sweet that I can't believe anyone would want to ingest this voluntarily". But my 84 jars of salsa (from Annie's recipe) are SUPERB. Ya win some and you lose some :-)

Melissa, I'm late to the party, but I'm glad you used the cheesecloth. My Squeezo/Villaware food mill does not get all the seeds out of raspberries, they are too tiny. It gets a lot, sometimes even most, but not all. Cheesecloth works better. As for rhubarb, I love it but it is definitely past season here in Michigan. I have mine stashed in the freezer, already sliced and ready for rhubarb pie at Christmas. And, here is my recipe for rhubarb/raspberry jam. Raspberry Rhubarb Jam 3 cups whole, fresh or frozen unsweetened raspberries 1 cup chopped rhubarb 2 Tbsp lemon juice 1 (1-3/4-ounce) pkg. powdered pectin, plus 2 Tbsp from another package, same size 8 cups sugar Rhubarb contains a lot of water. Before adding anything, simmer the raspberries and rhubarb for about 8 minutes, to allow the rhubarb to give up some of the liquid. Let the mixture cool. While the fruit is cooling, wash 9 half-pint jars. Keep hot until needed. Prepare lids as manufacturer directs. Stir the lemon juice and pectin into the cooled fruit. Bring to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Add the sugar, stirring constantly. Return to a full rolling boil, and boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Ladle the jam into one hot jar at a time, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Wipe jar rim with a clean, damp cloth. Attach lid. Fill and close remaining jars. Process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes (15 minutes at 1,000 to 6,000 feet). Makes 8 to 9 half-pints. Annie

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!

I don't know if you are averse to using pectin, but here is a recipe using Pamona's from the North American Raspberry and Blackberry Assn: Edited by Olychick: the recipe calls for 4 tsp pectin, but the directions call for 4 CUPS of pectin, obviously a typo.... 8 cups strained seedless black raspberry pulp 4 teaspoons calcium-water mixture prepared per Pomona's Pectin package 2 Tbsp lemon juice 2 cups sugar 4 teaspoons Pomona's Universal Pectin Directions: For Fruit Mixture, combine black raspberry pulp, calcium-water mixture, and lemon juice in a 6-quart or 8-quart stainless steel pot. In a separate container, combine 2 cups sugar and 4 cups Universal Pectin. Heat Fruit Mixture slowly to boil. Turn down heat, add Sugar-Pectin Mixture to Fruit Mixture, mix for 2 minutes to dissolve sugar. Turn up heat (a bit above medium on a gas stove) Bring to good boil, turn off heat. Fill jars to 1/4 inch from top, apply lids. Process in hot water bath canner: 10 minutes at sea level, 15 minutes at 5000 ft altitude. Shelf life one year. Note from Pete Tallman: Standard supermarket pectin formulas like Sure-Jell don't work with such low sugar percentages. This recipe was developed according to cooked jam recipes from instructions included in Pomona's Universal Pectin, which is available at many natural food stores. See www.pomonapectin.com for list of stores. See Pomona's Universal Pectin recipes for use with alternative sweeteners. Source: Peter Tallman, developer of new black raspberry variety "Niwot" Here is a link that might be useful: Seedless black raspberry jam This post was edited by olychick on Mon, Jul 7, 14 at 22:08