Raspberry Jalapeno Sauce

My sister had a wonderful raspberry jalapeno dipping sauce at a restaurant this winter and wanted to try and make some.  We Googled it and came up with recipes from the simple to the very complex.  Some used pectin, some used cornstarch, some had no thickener at all.  The ingredient ratios tended to be consistent, so we took our base recipe came from BigOven.com. And decided to punt.

The results were very nice:  Sis says that the flavor is just as she remembers.  It's a little thin (the sauce she had at the restaurant was almost scoopable) but she prefers that over a thick jam consistency.  So here's what we did:

Raspberry Jalapeno Dipping Sauce
4 cups (2 bags) frozen sweetened raspberries, thawed
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup key lime juice
6 fresh jalapenos, seeded and finely chopped
1/4 tsp butter or margarine to reduce foaming (optional)


Prepare jars and canner as for jam or jelly.  Heat ingredients to a roiling boil which cannot be stirred down.  Boil for three minutes and remove from heat.  Ladle into hot jars leaving 1/4" headspace.  Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

Yield:  5 half-pints.

Fresh berries would work very well, in fact we're planning another batch during berry season..  The raspberries we used were only sweetened with sugar, and not very much of it.  Don't buy berries in syrup, as it will throw off the sugar ratio.

This makes a great dipping sauce for chicken strips.  Use it as a ham or pork glaze.  Serve it with cream cheese as a cracker topping.  Combine it with a bit of balsamic vinegar for grilled chicken.