Love and Olive Oil

Watermelon Jelly

Watermelon Jelly

You might be wondering what happened to the rest of our watermelon surplus. You know, the 1 1/2 watermelons that were left after we made popsicles. Let’s just say they are now jarred and jiggly versions of their former selves.

Maybe it’s the fact that I missed the majority of the canning season this year. But as the summer dwindled I was prepared to stick just about anything in a jar. And watermelon just happened to be one of those things.

Apparently it’s not that common, because I couldn’t really find a tested recipe for it. So I improvised, using a basic recipe for mint jelly on the pectin pack (I figured watermelon juice couldn’t be any different than minty water, and substituting it would be fine).

So I now I have all these little jars of sunset-colored jelly. And no clue what to do with it. Since it is such an unusual preserve, I’m stumped. What would YOU do with it? Most creative idea just might win a jar from me.

Watermelon Jelly

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Ingredients:

2 cups watermelon juice (from about 1 small or 1/2 large watermelon)
3 tablespoons fresh or bottle lemon juice
3 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 pouch Certo liquid pectin

Directions:

To make watermelon juice, roughly chop watermelon. You’ll need about 6 cups of chopped melon to produce about two cups of juice. Run melon through a food mill (if you have one), or crush and then strain through a fine mesh sieve to remove any seeds or pulp.

Prepare canner and wash/sterilize 8 4-ounce canning jars. Keep jars in hot (not boiling) water until ready to use.

Combine watermelon juice, lemon juice, and sugar in a 6 to 8-quart nonreactive saucepan. Bring to a full roiling boil (a boil that doesn’t stop bubbling when stirred) over high heat, stirring constantly.

Quickly stir in pectin. Return to a full rolling boil and boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim off any foam with a metal spoon.

Ladle hot jam into jars, leaving 1/4-inch of headspace. Wipe the rims clean and top with lid; screw on ring until finger tight. Process in a boiling water bath for 7 minutes. Remove from water and let cool completely, 12 to 24 hours. Check seals. Any unsealed jars should be refrigerated and used within 1 month.

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71 Comments

  1. Use it on scones or pikelets or waffles

  2. I saw this recipe and thought wow I’ve got watermelon chunks in the freezer now I can use them for something other than a adult drink lol. I just got done making Fireweed jelly so I’m gonna give this a shot. I think it would go good over a cream cheese and serve with crackers for a light snack.

  3. I make lots of jelly. All kinds. And I just tried this recipe and it’s been 5 hours and it’s still sitting on the counter but is very much still liquid and I don’t feel like it will set up at all. But we will see tomorrow.

    • Sometimes a jelly like this can take a few days to fully set.
      If it doesn’t, you can always take it out of the jar and cook it again with more pectin (maybe a different variety – I have had varying levels of success with liquid pectin, I suspect they’ve changed the formula).

  4. I would make a basic cheese cake and spoon it over the top of it

  5. I have made several different jellies and the liquid pectin never sets as thick as the powered. I’ve started adapting all the recipes to use the powered pectin. Definitely do not like the liquid.

  6. I have not made this recipe as of yet, but my Non-GMO Organic Home Grown watermelon and cantaloupe are patiently wanting for there debut!

    I have however, made tomato jelly this year and my husband loves it on ice cream and I like it on gluten free pancakes!! YUM…so my thinking is this beautiful Watermelon Jelly will be used in the same manner.

    Will let you know how it turns out… ;0)

  7. On top of cream cheese with crackers , so good

  8. Sounds like a perfect glaze for salmon then roll is Panko bread crumbs bake!!!!

  9. I would use it on top of cheeses for entertaining or a picnic. Pretty much how I would use guava paste. What an awesome idea watermelon jelly!

  10. Okay, I made one batch = 7 jars each are 4 oz jars. Looks just like yours. And while the canning pots still had hot water and the stove top was waiting. I made batch number two. That gave me 14 jars of great looking “jelly”. It has been 48 hours since these where sealed and now cooled off. But they never set up like jelly. Only a thick syrup.

  11. Help I tried making this watermelon jelly and it didn’t set. What can I do to fix it?

    • Katrina~
      That happen with my Tomato Jelly (I haven’t made the Watermeoln Jelly yet) this year :0(

      I think it is the Liquid Pectin, my Mustang Grape Jelly called for the Liquid Pectin as well, so I replaced it with SureJell.

      It worked perfectly!!!

      Just be prepared to work fast, it’s sets fairly quickly.
      Hope this helps!
      TS

  12. The jelly was good. I put about a 1/3 of a small watermelon in a blender the strained it with cheese cloth. I had more than enough juice. I sealed all but one jar on a water bath. The one not in the water bath was syrupy. 

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