Thursday, July 19, 2012

Work Inside and Out - Watermelon Jelly

I was up early, like every morning, and decided to weed whack the back of the property and around the garden boxes before the sun was out in full force this morning. I didn’t get as much as I wanted accomplished, the battery died, and I failed to charge the second one. After putting the weed whacker back in the garage, I decided I was going to pick up garbage around the property; anything that flew in, like trash or dead branches.  I pulled dead flowers (from the wretched heat) out of several flower pots, and racked up several patches of straw.  By this time, I was ready to go inside.  Temperatures were peaking beyond 100 degrees.
Since the weekend is around the corner, I tackled all of our laundry, cleaned the refrigerator, vacuumed the house, and then made some Watermelon Jelly.  I might as well, we have ½ a full-size watermelon left, and I truly didn’t want to see it go to waste (because we couldn’t eat it fast enough). 

Watermelon Jelly
6 cups of watermelon juice
2 cups of sugar
4 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 complete package of liquid pectin
Take the seeds out of the watermelon (I put all of my watermelon in a blender, including the seeds).  Press the liquid button.  Strain your watermelon juice from pulp and seeds by using cheese cloth inside a strainer. Place the strained watermelon juice in a pot (stainless steel). Add sugar and lemon juice, stir continuously.  Make sure the sugar dissolves into the liquid, keep stirring, and bring to a rolling boil.  Add liquid pectin, keep stirring, and make sure you bring the mixture back to a rolling boil for 1 complete minute.  Remove from burner and ladle out any foam.  Now you’re ready to spoon watermelon juice mixture into your sterilized jars.  Leave ¼ inch head space and process in water bath for 10 minutes.  This jelly will make 6 half pint jars.


Place Watermelon in Blender Turn into Liquid



Strain Juice From Pulp and Seeds

Place Watermelon Juice, Sugar,  and Lemon in Pot.  Bring to Boil!!! Than Add Pectin (Keep Stirring and Allow to Boil 1 Minute).  Spoon off the Foam.

Spoon Into  Hot Sterilized Jars


Remove Air Bubbles From Jars



Wipe Glass Rim With A Clean Wet Cloth



Place Sterile Lid On Jar




Attach Rim



Process in a Water Bath For 10 Minutes



Remove From Water Bath, Sit on Towel  and Cover From Draft for 24 hours.
Make Sure Your Lids Pop (Seal), Label and Store.


To my surprise, last night Bulldog Man (Hubby) came home from work with a bouquet of beautiful flowers.  I think he knew Mama wasn’t feeling well.






SHARE:

10 comments

  1. It sounds like you had a full day! The watermelon jelly is pretty. How does it taste?

    It's so nice to get a surprise of flowers every now and then!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Robin,

      Yes Ma'am a full day. The jelly tastes like sweet watermelon.

      Delete
  2. The jelly looks great! I want to try some the first of next week.What a sweet hubby! Nice to be appreciated

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is a first for me. I never made Watermelon Jelly before. I tasted it before spooning it into the jars. It tastes really good.

      Bulldog Man (Hubby) is the best husband a wife could ask for. Now he will read this and his head will swell, lol

      Delete
  3. Now that sounds like a full day! And the watermelon jelly looks so beautiful. If I get a good one, I'm gonna try making it. Thanks for the GREAT directions :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mrs. Mac,
      Your welcome. I believe you may have to add more pectin. My jelly is still a little liquidy. I will post an update to this recipe.

      Delete
  4. I would love to try this if I get any watermelon this year. :) No blender here though so will have to find another way to do it. Yum!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glo,

      It tastes wonderful. Just add more pectin when you make it. I found out the hard way and went back and posted an update to this post.
      No blender, no problem. A potato masher or your hands work just fine.

      Delete
  5. That looks so good. Will have to try this before the summer is over. Watermelon abounds around here & at the Country House.

    I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one to use the big canner for just a few jars.

    I did learn a new trick recently. I wanted to used a smalleer pot for only six jars of peach butter but didn't have a metal thingamajiggy to put on the bottom so I used my big pot. The lady at the county extension office told me that I could use old rings to line the bottom of whatever size pot I use. Gonna try that next time I only a few jars.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great idea I will have to try that when using other pots to can. Thanks for the information.

      Delete

BLOGGER TEMPLATE CREATED BY pipdig