Chocolate Orange Jam

I've been playing with chocolate jams for a while now.   We love them on ice cream.   Or right out of the jar with a spoon.   We're not picky. 

Over the next few days, I'll give you three versions of this chocolate wonderfulness.   Chocolate raspberry, chocolate ginger pear and chocolate orange.

I made the chocolate orange first because I was making marmalade anyway.   I made a lot of marmalade.   So, I made another little batch of plain marmalade and dropped in a disc of that fabu Organic Stone Ground 70% cacao Extra Dark Chocolate that you see in the pic.   

It was extra dark.

It was stone ground.

It was to die for.

A note about the chocolate.   Don't make a special trip to the store for special chocolate.  Unless you want to.   You can substitute 1/3 cup of chocolate chips.  Or any chocolate bar.  Or cocoa powder as a last resort.  We tried this with all three and much preferred the chips and chocolate bar type chocolates.   The cocoa powder was OK, but not quite as good. 

Also, you should feel free to use more chocolate if you want to.   I mean 'chocolate' is the first word in the name, so you should load up if you want to.    Seriously.

Chocolate Orange Jam
www.rurification.com

4 oranges, zested and sectioned.
1 cup water
3 cups sugar
1.3 oz  disc of chocolate, or 1/3 cup chocolate chips

Zest the oranges and get it boiling in the water while you section the oranges.    Toss in the oranges and sugar and boil down until just before it reaches the gel point for your altitude.   [See Jam page, tab above, for that information]   Grate the chocolate into the jam and stir until it's well combined.    Let it finish cooking until it reaches the gelling point.    Yield:  just over a pint.

Note:   This is a no-pectin recipe.   It's hard to get no-pectin recipes to gel just right.  Don't worry about it.   Err to the side of too thin - it pours over ice cream and waffles better that way.     If it's too thick, then you can't get it out of the jar when it's been in the fridge.  That's a bigger problem than too thin, in my view.

Want the recipe for this Marmalade and a whole lot of other terrific jam recipes?   Check out my ebook:  A Simple Jar of Jam  at www.rurification.etsy.com.   You can preview the book by clicking the link on the sidebar.  Every purchase helps support this site.  Thank you!

Autumn Olive Ginger Orange Jam

Our Elaeagnus [autumn olive] trees held on to their fruit for a while this year.  Or maybe we just have more trees now, but at any rate, I had a lot of berries for several weeks this year.    The ducks finally found them and spent days vacuuming up the windfalls.   Hilarious!

Here's the thing about autumn olive berries - they're sour.    Unless you wait for them to get soft.  When they're soft, they're much sweeter inside, but that spotty outside skin is still pretty astringent.

OK - it's very astringent. 

And the new red berries are pretty sour.

It doesn't matter.   You get a delicious product no matter when you pick them.    I made this jam with these early sour ones and people loved it.

Loved. It. 

My point is this - pick the red berries when you can.   Cook them up and run them through a sieve or chinois to separate the seeds and skins.   Then make something delicious with them.   Like this jam.

This jam can be a no pectin jam.   The early red berries have loads of pectin in them and make sure you include some orange or greenish berries.   But remember!  they also require quite a bit of sugar to tame the sour.    Use the full amount.  This is not an overly sweet jam.  

I've also included a recipe for jam with pectin for when your berries are really good and ripe [and less pectin]

Elaeagnus [Autumn Olive] Ginger Orange Jam without pectin

from www.rurification.com

• 4 cups elaeagnus sauce [from about 8 cups of berries]
• zest and juice of 2 oranges
• 1/4 cup fresh grated ginger
• 4 cups sugar

Combine ingredients and bring to hard boil.   Boil a minute or so.   Turn off heat, ladle into jars.  Process for canning. 


Elaeagnus [Autumn Olive] Ginger Orange Jam with pectin

from www.rurification.com

• 4 cups elaeagnus sauce [from about 8 cups of berries]
• zest and juice of 2 oranges
• 1/4 cup fresh grated ginger
• 3 Tablespoons low sugar pectin
• 4 cups sugar

Combine elaeagnus, orange zest and juice, ginger and pectin in a large pot. Bring to a hard boil [one that you can't stir down.] Boil one minute, stirring constantly.   Add sugar and stir well.  Bring to hard boil again stirring constantly.  Boil one minute.   Ladle into jars and cover with clean lids and rings.  Process for canning. 


Want the recipe for this jam and a whole lot of other terrific jam recipes?   Check out my ebook:  A Simple Jar of Jam  at www.rurification.etsy.com.   You can preview the book by clicking the link on the sidebar.  Every purchase helps support this site.  Thank you!