Are you worried that summer is almost over and you haven’t fully enjoyed its rich and beautifully colored gifts? That’s okay, you can still preserve all of summer’s fruits and vegetables in jars to savor their flavor in the winter. We now will offer you a recipe for melon jam.
You’ll instantly love the smooth, jelly-like texture of this jam, and its flavor will intoxicate you in a pleasant way with every opening of the jar. You’ll indulge in the delicious taste of melon jam for breakfast, with a good tea or hot milk on cold winter mornings.
Because of its color and unmistakable aroma melon jam can also be used to flavor various cake and cookie creams.
Follow the list of ingredients and steps below to preserve the flavor of melon for winter.
Melon jam – Ingredients
- 2 kg melon, weighed without the rinds and seeds
- 1 kg sugar
- The juice of 1 lemon
- 1 vanilla pod, optional
Melon jam – Preparation
The recipe for making jam is simple, but the preparation time is a little longer than usual. Compared to plum jam, for example, more syrup will form during the cooking of melon jam. But you won’t have to spend time at the stove because you can prepare the jam in the oven, if you wish.
The first important aspect of successful jam making is choosing the right type of melon. It is important to choose a melon that is less ripe and juicy. On our market the most common varieties of melon are those with banana and pineapple flavor. They don’t necessarily have these tastes, but that’s how the marketers distinguish them. The first type has a creamy texture, like bananas, and the second is juicy like pineapple.
To make jam, choose “banana” melons. If you use creamier melons, not much syrup will form and the cooking time will be shorter. If you want to make melon marmalade, opt for pineapple melon. Bear in mind that these are the popular names, not the scientific ones.
Melon jam recipe – Preparation
The first step in making delicious melon jam is to remove the rind and seeds. First wash the whole melons thoroughly and wipe with paper towels. Then cut them lengthwise into slices, and remove the seeds with a spoon. Remove the juicier part along with the seeds. Peel the rinds and cut the flesh into smaller pieces.
Place the melon pieces in a saucepan and add the lemon juice, sugar and vanilla pod. Mix the ingredients together and set aside for 30 minutes until syrup forms.
Place the saucepan in the oven preheated to 200 degrees Celsius and cook the jam until its volume is reduced and it becomes firm. There is no need to mash the melon pieces, as they will mash themselves during the heat treatment. When the jam becomes firm, you can turn off the heat.
Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a cooling rack. Place the jars on a metal tray and insert the tray into the oven to sterilize the jars. Leave them for 10 minutes, then you can fill them with the hot jam.
Close the jars tightly with the lids provided and return the tray of jars to the oven. There is no need to turn the oven on again as it is already hot. Leave the jars of melon jam in the oven until cool. Then you can label them nicely with the date of preparation and transfer them to the pantry shelf.
If you need the oven in the meantime, you can remove the tray with the jars, but cover the jars with a blanket. It is important for the canning process that the jars cool slowly.