My new favorite place for inspiration & ideas is Pinterest.
Last week I saw a pin/link for Watermelon Jelly. This sounded great since we had just bought a huge watermelon for the 4th. Our company couldn't make it, so the watermelon remained uncut & refrigerated. Last night the Tapleys came over for hamburgers, swimming and watermelon.
We gorged on slices of watermelon and only ate 1/2 of it.
So I broke my own "I don't ever want to make jelly in the summertime" self imposed rule and set to making this delight. (the rule is because the heat of cooking, canning & Miss. is just too much for most summer days!)
The original link to the recipe is this...
since I didn't have liquid pectin, I started searching for a recipe that used powdered and I found it here...
Here are some pictures.....
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| I got about 16 cups of pulp from 1/2 the melon |
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| blended it in batches in my almost never used blender |
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| The finished product |
The link has lots of adds and "extra" info mixed in the recipe ~ so here is the cleaned up version
Watermelon Jelly
2 cups watermelon juice
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3 1/4 cups sugar
1 packet powdered pectin/1/4 cup sugar mixed
(total sugar 3 1/2 cups)
Heat the watermelon juice, lemon juice and pectin/sugar mix to a full rolling boil on med. heat.
Then add the rest of the sugar, and reheat to a full rolling boil. Test for "jell", reading the directions on the pectin packet.
Recipe makes 4 jelly jars (1/2 pint) or 8 1/4 pint cutesy jars
Remove from heat. Put molten yumminess in clean, sterilized canning jars. Top with lids and rings & place in waterbath canner. "Can" for 10 minutes in boiling water bath.
Remove from canner, listen for the "ping" that indicates the jars are sealed.
***I blended the watermelon pulp into batches using the liquify setting on my blender. The beautiful red juice settled to the bottle of the bowl with the pulpy part floating on top. I skimmed of the pulpy part and just used the clear juice.
The chickens got all the watermelon leftovers.
And when I tested for the "jell" I tasted the cooling jelly. Oh my goodness, yummy. Its a sugary, light fruity flavor and the color is a beautiful pinky red.
I made 2 batches today ~ and have enough juice to make about 5 more...but first a trip to Sams to buy more sugar!
#2 son wants to try making this. Did it really turn out a dark pink or was that just the picture? I thought it would be a light pink. How does it taste on biscuits/toast?
ReplyDeleteWe tried it on biscuits last night. Hubby had it on a pb&j today. The biscuits were great, I haven't heard a report on the pb&j yet. It is a darker color that I thought it would be also...maybe since I strained it and used pure juice.
ReplyDeleteMy sister told me a couple of years ago about watermelon jelly - I've never had any (hint, hint!)
ReplyDeleteShe loves canteloupe jelly, too. Ever had that? Not so sure about that!
I made 50 fifty jars of plum and 24 of strawberry so we'll trade, ok? And you're right - MS heat is not the right time to make jelly!
Trading would be great! I've got strawberry so we would want some plum ~ but I've got to get more sugar to make more for trading! And another watermelon is on my shopping list too!
ReplyDeleteThank you! Thank you! Thank you Donna! I just read your craft post and fell in love with all of your crafts and noticed the jar of watermelon jelly and thought to myself, I'd sure like to try that... and HERE it is, the recipe! You just made my day. I have a whole melon left too and I hope to try this tomorrow. I am very grateful. :)
ReplyDeleteHeidi