Watermelon Rind Jam Food

WATERMELON JAM

Steps:

• Preparations: Place a small plate in the freezer, you will need it to check if the jam is ready. Remove the black seeds from the watermelon, if necessary. Remove the rind. Chop and puree the watermelon pulp with an immersion blender. Strain through a sieve to remove the white seeds, optional.
• Add pectin: Place in a large pot with the sugar and lemon juice. Bring to a boil. Sprinkle the pectin on top and whisk it in carefully to make sure that there are no clumps.
• Cook jam: Bring to a boil again, turn down the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring often.
• Check to see if the jam is set. Remove the pot from the heat while you do that so that it doesn't overcook. Pour a tiny amount of jam on the plate, about ½ teaspoon or so. Place in the freezer for 2-3 minutes. Check by pushing the jam with your finger; if it wrinkles slightly and separates, it is done. If the jam is still rather liquid and comes back together after pushing it, continue cooking for about 5 minutes, then check again.
• Transfer: Pour the jam into sterilized jars and seal.
• If desired, can it in a water bath canner or large pot.

WATERMELON RIND PRESERVES OLD TIME

Steps:

• Trim green peel and red flesh from watermelon. Cut rind into small cubes (14-16 cups).
• Place cubed rind into stainless steel pot (Dutch oven size) and add one part sugar to two parts rind (I use little less sugar in my recipe). Let sit until sugar dissolves, a couple or hours or overnight (preferably overnight). Rind and sugar should have made its own liquid.
• Start cooking on medium, checking and stirring until it starts to boil, about 20-30 minutes.
• Add thinly sliced lemon, juice and zest of the other lemon. Stir in ground or whole spices of your choice.
• Turn down heat to low and cook on low heat until rinds are translucent, checking and stirring often (don't want the sugar to burn). (Approximately 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours more or less, until rinds are translucent).
• If using red food coloring, add a few drops to desired color at this point, stir well.
• Seal in prepared jars, clean jars, lids and rings placed in boiling water until ready to fill. Approximately (8) 1/2 pint jars, (16) 1/4 pint jars, or (4) pint jars.
• Immediately after filling jars I like to turn them upside down for 5-10 minutes, supposedly to help them seal.
• Optional instead of ground spices add with lemons:
• Cinnamon sticks (eight short pieces, 1 for each jar).
• Whole cloves (16-32 cloves, 2-4 for each jar).
• Grated fresh ginger (1 tablespoon).
• Red food coloring.

WATERMELON PRESERVES

Steps:

• Remove the green rind of the melon, and dice the white part into small cubes, leaving the red flesh mostly intact. Remove seeds.
• In a heavy stockpot, combine 4 cups of the prepared watermelon, sugar and lemons. Bring to a boil over medium heat, and let the mixture boil slowly for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. The temperature of the mixture should be at 220 degrees F (105 degrees C) so the jam will set.
• Sterilize the jars and lids in boiling water for at least 5 minutes. Pack the jam into the hot, sterilized jars, filling the jars to within 1/4 inch of the top. Run a knife or a thin spatula around the insides of the jars after they have been filled to remove any air bubbles. Wipe the rims of the jars with a moist paper towel to remove any food residue. Top with lids, and screw on rings.
• Place a rack in the bottom of a large stockpot and fill halfway with water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then carefully lower the jars into the pot using a holder. Leave a 2 inch space between the jars. Pour in more boiling water if necessary until the water level is at least 1 inch above the tops of the jars. Bring the water to a full boil, cover the pot, and process for 10 minutes.

WATERMELON RIND JAM (CANDIED WATERMELON RIND)

Steps:

• Remove the red flesh of the watermelon, leaving only one very thin layer of red flesh attached to the rind, about 2 mm/ 0.08 inches. Remove the green skin of the watermelon completely.
• Chop the watermelon rind into even pieces of about 3-4 cm/ 1.2-1.6 inches. You should weigh the watermelon rind now and prepare more if necessary.
• Place 1 liter/ 34 oz/ 4.2 cups water and the vinegar in a pot with a diameter of approximately 23 cm/ 9 inches and a height of 14 cm/ 5.5 inches (*See the marked paragraph above).
• Bring to a boil, add the watermelon rind and let cook for about an hour or a bit more until the rind pieces are glossy and somehow transparent. It is a necessary step, the vinegar will help the watermelon rind pieces hold their shape and not get soggy.
• Drain in a sieve, refresh with cold water and, when cool enough to handle, press with your hand to remove more of the excess water.
• Weigh the watermelon rind again. You should have more or less 500 g/ 1.1 lbs cooked rind. Set aside.
• Measure the sugar, you should use the same amount of sugar as you have of cooked watermelon rind, so about 500 g/ 1.1 lbs.
• Place the sugar in the rinsed pot you used before. Add 250 ml/ 8.5 oz/ 1 cup water to the sugar and turn on the heat. Stir to dissolve the sugar. When the syrup comes to a boil, add the watermelon rind and the lemon juice.
• Cook until a light syrup forms, it took me exactly 38 minutes, but as I have mentioned above, the cooking time depends on the size of the pot as well. I used a soup pot with a diameter of 23 cm/ 9 inches and a height of 14 cm/ 5.5 inches.
• If your pot has a similar size the time should be OK, if your pot is wider the cooking time will probably be shorter, if your pot is narrower the cooking time will probably be a bit longer. The finished syrup should be light in color and have more or less the consistency of clear honey.
• Place the jam into the sterilized jars and seal well. Keep in a dark cool place. If the jars are sterilized and well-sealed the jam should be good for a very long time.

WATERMELON JAM - EASY AND FOOLPROOF!

Steps:

• Put pureed watermelon, lemon juice and sugar in a pot. Bring to a rolling boil, then reduce heat to simmer.
• Add the pectin and whisk it with a handheld whisk or a fork immediately, so it dissolves without clumping.
• Bring the watermelon jam to a boil again, then reduce heat to simmer and simmer, stirring every minute, for 20 minutes.
• Pour the watermelon jar into a mason jar. This watermelon jam will set completely once it's cooled.
• This watermelon jam can be canned, or you can simply store it in a refrigerator (it will stay fresh in a refrigerator for up to 1 month).

WATERMELON RIND JAM

Steps:

• The first step is to peel off the tough green skin, chop up the white remains with some of the pink still on it.
• In a stainless steel saucepan (or Dutch oven), add the rinds, apple pieces, sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla. Bring to a boil. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Lower heat and stir until the rind is tender and translucent (could take up 60-120 minutes...mine took about 1 hour).
• When it is translucent, remove from heat. Let cool down and carefully emulsify.
• Carefully spoon the jam into sterilized jars. Apply lids jars.
• Wipe rims with a clean, damp towel and screw lids on securely but not too tightly.
• Process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
• Carefully remove jars using tongs. Use potholders to tighten the lids. Place jars on a rack upside-down and let them cool. When they've cooled down, store them in the refrigerator. The jam should keep unopened for several months.

WATERMELON RIND PICKLES

Steps:

• Place rind in a large nonreactive bowl; stir in water and salt. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Rinse and drain well., In a Dutch oven, mix sugar, vinegar, 2 cinnamon sticks, cloves and peppercorns. Bring to a boil. Add rinds; return to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes or until tender. Discard cinnamon sticks., Carefully ladle hot mixture into 4 hot 1-pint jars, leaving 1/2-in. headspace. Add a remaining cinnamon stick to each jar. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot mixture. Wipe rims. Center lids on jars; screw on bands until fingertip tight. , Place jars into canner with simmering water, ensuring that they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil; process for 10 minutes. Remove jars and cool.

WATERMELON RIND PRESERVES

Steps:

• Peel off the green part of the watermelon rind, and slice into 2 inch pieces. Soak the rind in a solution of 1 gallon water and 1/2 cup salt overnight.
• Remove rind from the salt water, and place in a stockpot with clean water to cover. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and cook for about 30 minutes, or until the rind is tender. Drain.
• In a large pot, combine the sugar, 8 cups water, and sliced lemons. Tie the cinnamon and cloves into a cheesecloth bag, and place in the pot. Bring the syrup to a boil, and boil for 5 minutes. Add the rinds, and cook until transparent. Remove spice bag. Stir in red food coloring, if using. Ladle preserves into hot sterile jars, and process to seal.

CANDIED WATERMELON RIND

Steps:

• Place watermelon rind in a deep pot and add the sugar.
• Cover and let stand at room temperature overnight (at least 4 hours) to macerate.
• In the morning, bring to a simmer, stirring to thoroughly dissolve the sugar.
• Add the remaining ingredients, cover and simmer for 2 1/2 hours. Cubes will be translucent when done.
• Uncover and bring to a boil. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring often, to reduce the syrup to a thick caramel-like liquid.
• While still hot, ladle into sterilized jars and process in a waterbath for 30 minutes (the original calls for turning the jars upside down for a minute to create a seal but to correlate with the US safety guidelines I suggest waterbath canning for shelf-storage. If you're keeping it in the fridge, skip this part!).

WATERMELON RIND JAM

Steps:

• Remove and set aside the red flesh from the watermelon, leaving about one centimeter of rind.
• Remove the dark green outer rind with a sharp knife or peeler.
• Cut the light green rind and the red pulp into bite-size pieces.
• Add two liters of water and 200 ml of apple cider vinegar. Bring to a boil and let everything cook on medium heat for about 2 hours.
• Pour the rind mixture into a glass bowl and chill with cold water.
• When cooled, put the rind mixture back into the pot. Add half a liter of water, the juice of one lemon, a kile of jam sugar and a packet of vanilla sugar. Cook everything until the mixture has thicked.
• Puree the mixture partially or completely according to your desire.
• Pour the hot jam into sterilized jars. Close the jam jars and turn them upside down for 5 minutes. Leave the jam jars in a kitchen towel for half a day.

WATERMELON JELLY

Steps:

• Whisk together sugar and powdered pectin until they are fully integrated. Combine watermelon puree, sugar/pectin and lemon juice in a large, non-reactive pot.
• Bring to a boil and let cook until the temperature of the nascent jelly reaches 220 degrees. This can take anywhere from 15-30 minutes, depending on the width of your pot, the heat of your stove and even the weather you're having. Check set using saucer test before removing it from the heat, to ensure that it will set.
• Remove from the heat and pour into prepared jars. Wipe rims, apply lids and screw on bands. Process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes.
• When time is up, remove from canner and let jars cool. When they're cool enough to handle, remove rings and test seals. You can eat immediately or store unopened jars in a cool, dark place for up to a year.

OLD SOUTHERN WATERMELON RIND PRESERVES

Steps:

• Peel green skin off the watermelon, but leave a little of the red pulp on rind. Cut into 1-inch slices, then slice into 1-inch cubes. Place rind in a large pot and cover with the sugar until the fruit doesn't show. Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate overnight. Place pot on stove and add lemon slices and allspice, if desired. Boil whole mixture until rind is clear, about 2 hours. Pack into clean, hot jars. Wipe rims and screw on lids. Process 10 minutes in boiling water deep enough to cover lids by at least 1 inch. Serve the preserves on buttered toast, if desired. NOTE: After cutting watermelon, save the rind in the refrigerator until you are ready to prepare the preserves.

WATERMELON MARMALADE

Steps:

• Trim green skin and pink pulp from the thick watermelon rind.
• Chop rind and measure out 6 cups; then soak chopped rind in water for 18 hours In preserving kettle, combine rind, soaking water and all remaining ingredients.
• Cook over low leat stirring frequently until the jelly reaches 220-222F or until the syrup sheets when droped from a spoon.
• This takes about 1 1/2 hours.
• Ladle into hot sterilized jars and seal immediately.

WATERMELON RIND PRESERVES

Steps:

• To prepare watermelon rind: Trim green skin and pink flesh from thick watermelon rind.
• Cut into 1" pices.
• Dissolve salt in 2 quarts water and pour over rind.
• Let stand 5-6 hours.
• Drain; rinse and drain again.
• Cover with cold water and let stand 30 minutes.
• Drain.
• Sprinkle ginger over rind; cover with water and cook until fork-tender.
• Drain.
• Combine sugar, lemon juice and 7 cups water.
• Boil 5 minutes; add rind and boil gently for 30 minutes.
• Add sliced lemon and cook until the melon rind is clear.
• Pack hot into hot jars, leaving 1/4" head space.
• Remove air bubbles.
• Adjust caps.
• Process 20 minutes in boiling water bath.

HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE WATERMELON JAM

Steps:

• Puree the watermelon chunks in a blender or food processor. Depending on the size of your blender, you may have to work in two batches, but the finished amount of puree should be roughly 4 cups. There is no need to strain the watermelon juice because the puree gets very thin.
• Pour the watermelon puree into a large pot. Add lemon juice.
• In a small metal bowl, whisk both boxes of pectin together with 1/2 cup of the sugar. This will prevent the pectin from clumping later on.
• Whisk the pectin/sugar mixture into the watermelon puree.
• Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir almost constantly to prevent the bottom of the mixture from burning.
• Add the rest of the sugar when the mixture is boiling so hard that you can't stir the bubbles away. Whisk the sugar in.
• Return the mixture to a hard boil, and cook for one minute.
• After one minute, remove the jam from heat.

WATERMELON RIND JAM

Steps:

• Cut rind into 1/3-inch strips. Cover in cold water and bring to a quick boil. Reduce heat, and let simmer slowly until transparent, about 30 minutes.
• Drain, and reserve 1 1/2 cups of liquid.
• In a heavy pot, completely dissolve sugar in reserved liquid. Add honey and lemon peel, and bring to a boil, skimming as needed. Add drained rind and seeds and boil gently over medium heat, for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and set aside overnight.
• Boil again over medium heat, until syrup thickens, about 15 minutes. Test for doneness.
• Add lemon juice and mastic or cardamom 5 minutes before jam is done. Let jam cool completely then store in a sterilized jar.

WATERMELON RIND PRESERVES

Steps:

• Peel off the green part of the watermelon rind, and slice into 2 inch pieces. Soak the rind in a solution of 1 gallon water and 1/2 cup salt overnight. Remove rind from the salt water, and place in a stockpot with clean water to cover. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and cook for about 30 minutes, or until the rind is tender. Drain. In a large pot, combine the sugar, 8 cups water, and sliced lemons. Tie the cinnamon and cloves into a cheesecloth bag, and place in the pot. Bring the syrup to a boil, and boil for 5 minutes. Add the rinds, and cook until transparent. Remove spice bag. Stir in red food coloring, if using. Ladle preserves into hot sterile jars, and process to seal.

THE BEST BALKAN WATERMELON RIND JAM

Steps:

• Remove the green skin from the rind using a peeler. Scrape the pink flesh on the inside. Wash the rind well and cut it into 2-3 cm cubes.
• In a medium-size heavy-based pot, bring water to a boil or pour boiling water from your kitchen kettle. When the water on your hob comes to a boil, reduce the heat. Place the watermelon rind cubes in the boiling water and simmer for 5 minutes. Fish the cubes out with a sieve, place them immediately into a bowl with cold water and ice until they cool down. Repeat this step 2-3 times. Every time replace the water in the pot with clean boiling water from your kitchen kettle and bring the water to a full boil, then reduce the heat before placing the watermelon rind inside.
• To make the sugar syrup, boil water (1 litre) in a large heavy-based pot and add the sugar. Simmer for 5 minutes until the sugar is dissolved. Add the orange zest and stir.
• Tap the watermelon rind pieces with a sheet of paper towel to remove excess moisture before adding them to the sugar syrup. Cook until the rind is soft and the jam riches the right consistency. Perform a test to make sure the jam is ready by placing a drop of jam on a porcelain plate. If the drop of jam holds its shape, the jam is ready.
• Add the citric acid and simmer for another 5 minutes. Remove from the hob.
• Pour the ready jam into a large baking tray and leave it to cool for 5-6 hours. This is an important step because this jam expands.
• Pour the jam into sterilised jars, leave 1 inch (3cm) headspace in the jars. Wipe the jar rims clean to remove air bubbles. Place the lids and finger tighten them. Do not make the lids too tight.
• Keep the jam jars in the fridge and consume within 1-2 month, or seal the jam jars hermetically, if you plan to store them for an extended amount of time.

WATERMELON JELLY

Steps:

• To get your watermelon juice, cut up your watermelon into small chunks and puree in your blender or food processor. I found the blender worked better. Strain the juice out to remove the pulp and the seeds. Save the pulp for another recipe or discard. Do this until you have 4 cups of watermelon juice. You will need to do it in at least 2 batches, maybe three.
• In the widest stock pot you have (see tips for information on this) add the watermelon juice, lemon juice and sugar and blend together. Add the pectin and stir together again.
• Heat to boiling and then allow to boil on the stove until it gets to 220 degrees, a digital thermometer will help here, big time. I stirred the mixture a few times to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. It took me 20 minutes to reach 220, but it can take anywhere from 15-30 minutes to reach this which depends on the size of the pot, the pectin, the temperature outside, etc. In other words, this is all a science, and what works one time, might not work the next. My advice, keep an eye on it. I burned a batch because I answered the phone. Yes, 35 seconds to go across the floor to grab the phone and it burned.
• Once you have reached the desired 220 degrees (please, please use a digital or candy thermometer to do this and then follow the plate test below in the tips to make sure its done).
• Once you have determined its ready, remove from heat and carefully pour it into your jars. (see the tips for some notes on this too!)
• If you didn't use a canning jar funnel, make sure you wipe the lids well, and then put the lids on. (these jars are hot! Use canning tongs or a thick kitchen towel to handle)
• Quickly clean your big pot out, place the jars in the bottom and fill with hot water covering the jars by over an inch. I had some trouble because one of my jars was only half full and it wanted to bob around in there. I let it, it didn't hurt anything.
• Put the pot on the stove, heat to boiling again and give it a 10 minute hot water bath.
• After 10 minutes, remove the pot from the stove, CAREFULLY remove the jars from the water (I used a canning basket, so it was fairly easy) and allow the jars to cool enough to handle.
• Remove the rings around the jar and test the seals, make sure they are secure but don't break the seal. Replace the rings and store for up to a year in a cool, dry place (dark is good too). If any of the seals are broken, use that jar, and enjoy your watermelon jelly. Don't forget to label the jar, or if you make several kinds you won't remember what is what. Please make sure and read the extra tips below.