Watermelon Jelly
"This recipe was posted by request. I've not made it, myself, but I have a friend who I know would enjoy it, so plan to make some next time watermelon is easily available. :)"
photo by Something to Chu On
- Ready In:
- 35mins
- Ingredients:
- 4
- Yields:
-
1 batch
ingredients
- 4 cups bite-size chunks watermelon, seeds removed
- 3 1⁄2 cups sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 3 ounces liquid fruit pectin
directions
- Blend watermelon pieces in blender for about 1 minute on medium speed.
- In large kettle, mix melon, sugar, and lemon juice.
- Bring to a boil.
- Stir in liquid fruit pectin and boil fifteen minutes, stirring.
- Skim off the foam and pour into jars.
- Wipe rims, place lids, screw on bands finger-tight and process in a boiling water bath for ten minutes.
- Remove to a protected surface to cool undisturbed.
- Note: this is an adopted recipe, and needs a bit of tweaking. I plan on making the jelly with a thermometer in the future to ensure that the results are consistent.
- Note #2: I've received questions about the 15 minute time listed in the recipe. Almost all of the watermelon jelly recipes I've found doing a search are for 1 minute. As this recipe has already been reviewed as is, I don't want to alter it too much. But as an alternative, I'd like to give you a recipe from Epicurious.com, whom I've found to be a reliable source. Watermelon Jelly, courtesy of Epicurious.com: 4 cups seeded, diced watermelon, 3 1/2 cups sugar, 2 Tbs lemon juice, 1/2 of a 6 ounce pkg of liquid fruit pectin (1 foil pouch). Instructions: Place diced watermelon in a blender container or food processor bowl. Cover and blend or process until smooth (should have 2 cups watermelon puree). In a 6 to 8 quart kettle combine the watermelon puree, sugar and lemon juice. Bring the mixture to a full rolling boil (a boil that cannot be stirred down) over high heat, stirring constantly with a long handled wooden spoon. Stir in the pectin all at once. Return mixture to a full rolling boil; boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove kettle from heat; skim off foam. Ladle jelly into clean, hot half-pint jars, leaving 1/4-inch head space. Wipe jar rims; adjust lids. Allow to cool completely away from drafts, then store in cool, dark place. Makes 4 half pints.
- Note #3: from RecipeZaar user Foggy Kitchen come these helpful comments. "Mine did not gel and I had to research why not. Follow directions! Detail on the Pectin box distinctly separates fruit w/pectin -vs- bowl of sugar on side to be added LATER, then briefly fast boiled (the one minute reference).".
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Reviews
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I have used this jelly for years. It is wonderful and I recommend that everyone try it. Watermelon Rind jelly is also a favorite of my faimly. -
I made this jelly and while I thought it was good I thought I might could improved it a little so I made another batch and added 1/2 cup red hot candies, 6 whole cloves, six whole all spice seeds and 1/2 stick cinnamon which I placed in home made spice bag (I find that coffee filter and twistie tie works fine)..this made a bolder taste and I think is quite good. -
This recipe is delicious, but it takes much longer than 1 minute to set up. Use a jelly thermometer and boil till it's done!
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I think the jelling problems people are having are coming from a missing step in the recipe that's causing too much watermelon and liquid to end up in the final mixture. I started with the 4 cups of melon called for, seeded, then blended the fruit as written. I then poured the puree into a jelly bag and let it drip into a pot (undisturbed) for 30 minutes. Do not squeeze the bag or you'll get a cloudy jelly. (You can also do this by lining a strainer with a couple layers of cheese cloth). I then measured out just 2 cups of the strained liquid and used that to follow the rest of the original recipe. I live at high altitude (6200 feet) and found I needed to boil the mixture for two minutes after adding the liquid pectin, but it jelled perfectly, has a great color and a really nice watermelon flavor. By the way, I replaced the lemon juice with 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lime juice because I like the flavor combination better. -
I'm very disappointed. I made the recipe as is and took a taste. It was just like sugar water. So I added 2 cups of pureed watermelon. Still sugar water. I dumped half out and added 2 more cups of pureed watermelon. It tastes a bit more like watermelon now but still super sweet. I use 1 1/2 pks of pectin (cause I dumped half out) and it's pretty liquidy. It's harder cold but still not jelly like. I'll probably try again and only use enough sugar for the pectin. But maybe my watermelon wasn't very warermelony. I don't know but I feel so sad!
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Tweaks
-
I think the jelling problems people are having are coming from a missing step in the recipe that's causing too much watermelon and liquid to end up in the final mixture. I started with the 4 cups of melon called for, seeded, then blended the fruit as written. I then poured the puree into a jelly bag and let it drip into a pot (undisturbed) for 30 minutes. Do not squeeze the bag or you'll get a cloudy jelly. (You can also do this by lining a strainer with a couple layers of cheese cloth). I then measured out just 2 cups of the strained liquid and used that to follow the rest of the original recipe. I live at high altitude (6200 feet) and found I needed to boil the mixture for two minutes after adding the liquid pectin, but it jelled perfectly, has a great color and a really nice watermelon flavor. By the way, I replaced the lemon juice with 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lime juice because I like the flavor combination better.
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Julesong
Tukwila, 87
<p>It's simply this: I love to cook! :) <br /><br />I've been hanging out on the internet since the early days and have collected loads of recipes. I've tried to keep the best of them (and often the more unusual) and look forward to sharing them with you, here. <br /><br />I am proud to say that I have several family members who are also on RecipeZaar! <br /><br />My husband, here as <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/39857>Steingrim</a>, is an excellent cook. He rarely uses recipes, though, so often after he's made dinner I sit down at the computer and talk him through how he made the dishes so that I can get it down on paper. Some of these recipes are in his account, some of them in mine - he rarely uses his account, though, so we'll probably usually post them to mine in the future. <br /><br />My sister <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/65957>Cathy is here as cxstitcher</a> and <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/62727>my mom is Juliesmom</a> - say hi to them, eh? <br /><br />Our <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/379862>friend Darrell is here as Uncle Dobo</a>, too! I've been typing in his recipes for him and entering them on R'Zaar. We're hoping that his sisters will soon show up with their own accounts, as well. :) <br /><br />I collect cookbooks (to slow myself down I've limited myself to purchasing them at thrift stores, although I occasionally buy an especially good one at full price), and - yes, I admit it - I love FoodTV. My favorite chefs on the Food Network are Alton Brown, Rachel Ray, Mario Batali, and Giada De Laurentiis. I'm not fond over fakey, over-enthusiastic performance chefs... Emeril drives me up the wall. I appreciate honesty. Of non-celebrity chefs, I've gotta say that that the greatest influences on my cooking have been my mother, Julia Child, and my cooking instructor Chef Gabriel Claycamp at Seattle's Culinary Communion. <br /><br />In the last couple of years I've been typing up all the recipes my grandparents and my mother collected over the years, and am posting them here. Some of them are quite nostalgic and are higher in fat and processed ingredients than recipes I normally collect, but it's really neat to see the different kinds of foods they were interested in... to see them either typewritten oh-so-carefully by my grandfather, in my grandmother's spidery handwriting, or - in some cases - written by my mother years ago in fountain pen ink. It's like time travel. <br /><br />Cooking peeve: food/cooking snobbery. <br /><br />Regarding my black and white icon (which may or may not be the one I'm currently using): it the sea-dragon tattoo that is on the inside of my right ankle. It's also my personal logo.</p>
