Wicked, absolutely wicked! ... I’m going to the grocery today, and you know what will be in my cart, don’t you, rascal!
Okay, I talked through how I figured to make cantaloupe preserves and I pretty much got the recipe perfect so I’m going to share it.
But, this week I also used the same recipe and made honeydew preserves and I gotta tell ya, I jarred them up this morning and they are sublime!!! So, maybe Delawhere will want to try that also when all is well with daughter and life resumes what passes for normality.
Use 1 cantaloupe or honeydew. I’m guessing any kind of mushmelon would do.
Cut the melon, slice it up, skin it and then slice each slice into slivers about 1/8” thick. Put that all in a dish with a lid, (I use the pan I actually cook the preserves in cause it also has a lid), Cover the melon with 2 to 3 cups of sugar. Probably most people would want 3 cups of sugar, I like to use less sugar and more fruit so I use about 2 cups. (Truthfully I don’t measure but I know what I’m scooping about 2 cups.)
Leave all that in the refrigerator for 24 hours - or if you’re time crunched just leave overnight but I like to do the full 24 hours.
After 24 hours, remove from fridge, put on stove over high heat and cook hard until the fruit is translucent and pretty much mush. Turn down the heat a bit, use a slotted spoon and dip the fruit out into a sheet cake pan that has a cover. Get out all the fruit you reasonably can, spread it over the sheet pan to cool.
Meanwhile, turn the heat back up on the syrup left in the pan. Heat to NEARLY jell stage. Jell stage is when the mixture slips off the spoon in a sheet, nearly jell stage is when it comes off the metal spoon in thick double drops.
For those of you with thermometers and maybe aren’t comfortable with jelly preparation I am sure that Delawhere will provide the proper temps when he gets back.
When syrup is NEARLY to jell stage add juice of 1 lemon or a tablespoon of reconstituted lemon juice. Continue cooking and stirring until mixture is dropping in 2 thick drops again.
Pour thick syrupy stuff over the fruit in the sheet pan. Allow to cool for 2 or 3 hours and then put the cover on and leave for 24 total hours.
After 24 hours, sterilize half pint, 3/4 pint or pint jars, rings and lids for preserves. My amounts have varied between 1 pint and 2 pints. Get water bath ready. Spoon preserves from cake pan into sterilized jars. Add sterilized ring and lid. Water bath for 30 THIRTY minutes. I know that is long to water bath a jelly but you are putting room temperature preserves in the jar so do the FULL 30 MINUTES!!
This recipe makes awesome tasting melon preserves for when you just have too many melons in the summer.
LOL, now you know, wicked recipes make me think of you.
While you are at the store, pick up some peppermint candy ice cream, or crush good peppermint candy and add to softened vanilla ice cream, serve topped with HOT FUDGE topping, whipped cream and your choice of nuts.
50 years ago, that was the special invention of an Ice Cream Shoppe in Laguna Beach, California.
I found $20.00 and no one claimed it, so a friend and I decided it was time for a treat, she did not drive and I did, so we drove the 100 miles to Laguna Beach, walked and looked at the interesting things in a coastal tourist town, had peppermint hot fudge sundaes and home again, for $20.00.