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Last Updated on June 18, 2024 by Jess
Before I get to the raspberry jalapeño jam recipe, I want to share a little of my history. For as long as I can remember, raspberries have been my very favorite fruit. When I was little, I would go with my dad to bait deer stands (very Wisconsin, right?) and I could eat wild raspberries to my heart’s content while I wasted time in the woods. I am certain part of my love started there. I always had the rule that you couldn’t eat them until you were done picking. If you started eating, it was just impossible to stop.
Now that I am an adult with a larger than life raspberry patch, I still hold true to that rule. A few years ago, we had the biggest bumper crop we had ever had. First, I made regular jam. After that, I froze them straight. I made raspberry sorbet (Check out that recipe here!). I even made raspberry salsa. The salsa inspired me to try mixing jalapeños and raspberries in a different way. Raspberry jalapeño jam was born. If you have ever had pepper jelly, this has a similar spicy-sweet flavor. This is better, of course 😉
How would you eat a raspberry jalapeño jam? It’s great spread on top of cream cheese (or the healthier cousin, Neufchatel) and served with wheat crackers. If you have never had this, oh my goodness, you need to give it a try! I like to put it on burgers, replacing barbecue sauce. It even goes well on a PB and J, believe it or not. It isn’t so much spicy as it simply has a depth to the flavor. Serious yum factor.
Okay, enough talking. Let’s get canning and make this delicious treat!
The Supplies
This recipe will result in approximately eight 8 ounce jelly jars. You can use wide mouth or narrow mouth jars. Just be sure you have rings and lids for them and that they will all fit in your canner at once.
You will need a water bath canner or large stock pot with a lid. The jars need to be off the bottom of the pot. A water bath canner will have a rack to use if you go that route. If you use a stock pot, I would invest in canning racks. Alternatively, you can also put a towel down in a pinch, but it is MESSY in terms of getting water everywhere.
It is also helpful to have the tools in a canning kit like this, but it isn’t necessary. Canning would be crazy challenging without the jar funnel and jar tongs. The lid lifter is also very handy.
New to canning? Check out the Ball’s Book of Canning or The National Center for Home Food Preservation for more detailed information. I will give you the low down, but it will be short and sweet. You will want to read up more, I promise 🙂
Your Ingredients
- 6 ½ cups raspberries
- 5 cups sugar
- 2 jalapenos, finely chopped (between ¾-1 cup)
- 4 ½ tablespoons powder pectin (or one packet)
Your Steps
Prep Work
To begin, prepare your water bath canner. Be sure to fill the canner with enough water so that once the jars are in the canner, they will be covered by at least one inch of water. Too much water is better than not enough, but remember that some water will be displaced by the jars. Cover and begin to heat over a medium-high heat.
Meanwhile, measure out the sugar. Set aside. You want to do this ahead of time because the process of canning is slow until it hits “go time” and then you need to be prepared. You will stir this in when you hit a rolling boil.
It’s Cooking time
First, place the raspberries in a large, non reactive kettle. Crush them. I like to use a potato masher for this task. Stir in the jalapeños. Add ¼ teaspoon of butter, if desired. This will reduce the foaming. Sprinkle and stir in the pectin. Cook over high heat until a rolling boil is reached, stirring consistently.
At this point, stir in sugar. You will want to do this slowly. If you pour it all in at once, you will likely get clumps. Continue to stir until you reach another rolling boil that can not be stirred down. (I try to rush this and think it rolling before it really is. Be better than me 🙂 ). Once a rolling boil is reached, cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Finally, ladle jelly into prepared jelly jars, wipe the rims with a damp cloth, add lids, and tighten rings to fingertip tight. Put into the water bath canner and process for 10 minutes. Once the jelly is done processing, remove the canner from heat and let jars rest in the water for an additional 5 minutes. Finally, remove jars from the canner and allow to cool for 12-24 hours before moving. Listen for the ping of the lids (best part of canning…apart from the eating of the beautiful food you create).
Oh, and don’t forget to just try your jelly on the sides of the kettle after the jars are in the canner. It’s SO good. Trust me, you may want to make sure you have some homemade bread handy.
A few notes:
- Make sure you are using powdered pectin rather than liquid pectin. They do not set the same. Early in my canning career I didn’t know the difference and had a few batches of jelly never set.
- If you have never canned, you can reference the instructions within the pectin box for additional, more detailed directions.
- Sealed jars are shelf-stable, meaning they can be stored on a shelf unrefrigerated. If your jars don’t ping (a sign that they have sealed), they are still good. You will just need to store them in the refrigerator.
- Most sources recommend removing the rings from jars for storage so that you will know if they unseal for any reason. When I know they have sealed, I generally just loosen them as much as I can without removing them.
Looking for other canning and preserving recipes? Check out the page below!
Raspberry Jalapeño Jam
Ingredients
- 6 ½ cups raspberries
- 5 cups sugar
- 2 jalapenos finely chopped (between ¾-1 cup)
- 4 ½ tablespoons powder pectin or one packet
Instructions
- Prepare your water bath canner. Fill the canner with enough water so that once the jars are in the canner, they will be covered by at least one inch of water. Cover and begin to heat over a medium-high heat.
- Measure out sugar. Set aside.
- Place the raspberries in a large, non reactive kettle. Crush them. Stir in jalapeños. Add ¼ teaspoon of butter, if desired, to reduce foaming.
- Sprinkle and stir in the pectin. Cook over high heat until a rolling boil is reached, stirring consistently.
- Once a rolling boil is reached, slowly stir in sugar.
- Continue to stir until you reach another rolling boil that can not be stirred down. Once a rolling boil is reached, cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
- Ladle jelly into prepared jelly jars, wipe the rims with a damp cloth, add lids, and tighten rings to fingertip tight. Put into the water bath canner. When the canner has a steady boil going, time and process for 10 minutes.
- Once the jelly is done processing, remove the canner from heat and let jars rest in the water for an additional 5 minutes. Finally, remove jars from the canner and allow to cool for 12-24 hours before moving.
Notes
- Make sure you are using powdered pectin rather than liquid pectin. They do not set the same.
- If you have never canned, you can reference the instructions within the pectin box for additional, more detailed directions.
- Sealed jars are shelf-stable, meaning they can be stored on a shelf unrefrigerated. If your jars don’t ping (a sign that they have sealed), they are still good. You will just need to store them in the refrigerator.
- Most sources recommend removing the rings from jars for storage so that you will know if they unseal for any reason. I generally just loosen them as much as I can without removing them.
[…] them. If you have missed it, you can check out regular raspberry jam, raspberry cherry jam, and raspberry jalapeño jam by clicking their links. Now, it’s raspberry and nectarine sorbet. Let me tell you, it’s a […]
The taste was great – but it did set up. It’s very runny like a sauce. We’re going to try to fix it tonight. I feel like it’s a chemical thing with the peppers. However – usually there is more sugar than berries in jam recipes as well.
Bummer! I have used this recipe countless times and it always sets up. What pectin did you use? I have made the mistake of using liquid when the recipe calls for powder in the past.
We used the powdered Sure-Jell. I wonder what I can do to fix it?
I haven’t had that happen yet, but here’s what the Oregon extension office says: For each quart of jelly, mix ¼ cup sugar, ½ cup water, 2
Tablespoons bottled lemon juice, and 4 teaspoons powdered pectin. Bring to a boil while stirring.
Add jelly and bring to a rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Boil hard ½ minute. Remove
from heat, quickly skim foam off jelly, and fill sterile jars, leaving ¼ inch headspace. Adjust new lids
and process.
Please let me know how it goes!
Is the 6 1/2 cups raspberries before crushing them or after they’ve been crushed?
Before! 🙂
Made two batches of this jam and it came out perfect!!
Oh yay! Thank you for such a positive review!
This is my second batch. The first one was such a hit I had to make more
Oh Sandy! I am SO happy to hear that! It sure is a big hit at our house too! Thanks for sharing!
I freaking love this jam!!
No lemon juice is needed?
Nope! I have never used lemon juice!
I also added more jalapenos to the recipe…plus a little extra pectin to ensure it would set. But, it didn’t. Is it because I offset the recipe balance between pectin and ingredients?
That would be what I would suspect. Also, jelly CAN be finicky and it also can take up to three weeks to set. I would let them sit just a bit and see if they set after a few weeks. Then, you can definitely reprocess it to help it set. Any pectin of your choice should give you directions for that specific pectin.
This might also seem silly, but did you accidentally use liquid instead of powder? I did that once, but followed the directions for powder and that doesn’t work 🙂
[…] ton. Freeze a ton. And oh my gosh, the jam! I do both this razzle dazzle raspberry jam. I also do a raspberry jalapeño jam for a little fun. You can find it by clicking here if you need a little […]
Hi Jess,
Do you remove the Jalapeños seeds or put them in the jam?
Great question! Personally, I remove the ribs and the seeds. I suspect you could leave the seeds if you wanted a little more kick, but I always remove them.
Can you use frozen raspberries?
Absolutely! Just measure them from frozen!
I used 1 1/3 cups of jalapeños & that made it taste much more to my liking. Thank you do very much!
That’s great Brenda! I am love that you shifted it for you! Thanks for sharing!
Can I use less sugar surejell pectin in this recipe? If so, how much sugar should one use? I like to taste the fruit/peppers, not a ton of sugar.
Sure! I would just make sure that you look at the amount of fruit called for with the low sugar and adjust accordingly!