Melon jelly

Every housewife who does not leave her family without such winter preparations as jam, compotes, jams should try to make melon jelly for the winter. This light, fragrant and tasty dessert will not only be able to cheer up the whole family at any time, but will also successfully serve as the final item of any festive dinner. And it’s really easy to cook it.

Features and secrets of making melon jelly

Few people will refuse melon jelly, especially in winter, when the season for the sale of this melon crop has already ended. There are practically no contraindications for the use of melon jelly. But the useful properties of the fruit retains almost everything, because it undergoes heat treatment for a short time.

Melon jelly belongs to the “light” sweets – with a low sugar content compared to other sweet preparations for the winter, because gelatin is used to thicken the syrup, and sugar is only to taste and desire.

In most recipes for making melon jelly with gelatin, the fruit is processed into a puree or only its juice is used. In this case, you can take a well-ripened melon.

When you want pieces of the fruit to be preserved in the jelly, you need to choose a melon with dense pulp or buy two fruits with different degrees of maturity:

• well-ripened to use for making syrup;
• a little unripe – for whole pieces in jelly.

Lovers of jelly sweets can diversify this dessert by adding slices of other fruits to melon jelly or using the juice of different fruits and berries to make jelly syrup. For those who like to feel the additional taste of exotic spices, the opportunity for experimentation and the development of new recipes is open:

• add juice or zest of lemon, lime;
• vanilla, mint, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon;
• in recipes for adults – rum, cognac, liquor, vodka.

You can experiment not only with taste, but with the appearance of the dessert: get a light, almost transparent jelly with melon pieces, or make the syrup red, raspberry, cherry, yellow, green, using the juice of other fruits and berries.

Melon recipes in jelly for the winter

The basis of the recipe for making melon jelly for the winter is simple and it is the only one – the melon liquid acquires a jelly state with the help of gelatin. And the rest is the fantasy of the cook. So there are many recipes.

A simple winter melon jelly recipe

Ingredients:

• melon pulp – 0,5 kg;
• sugar – 5 st. l .;
• water – 2;
• gelatin – 2 tbsp. l .;
• citric acid – 0,5 tbsp. l.

Sequencing:

1. Cut the melon into pieces, put in a saucepan for cooking jam.
2. Add water, sugar, citric acid, mix everything.
3. When the contents of the pan boil, reduce the heat and boil for another 5-7 minutes.
4. Separate the melon pieces from the syrup.
5. Add swollen gelatin, previously soaked for 20-30 minutes in 50 ml of cold water, into the hot syrup and stir until it is completely dissolved.
6. Combine melon pieces with hot syrup.
7. Pour into prepared containers and roll up with lids.

Such a dessert cannot be compared with ordinary jam or jam for tea. This delicate, fragrant and not very sweet dish can be served at any holiday table and be sure that everyone will like it.

With orange juice

A small addition in the form of an orange radically changes the color and taste of melon jelly. For cooking you will need:

• melon – half of the fruit;
• orange – 3 large;
• water – 1;
• gelatin – 10 g;
• sugar – 4 st. l.

Prepare as follows:

1. Squeeze juice from oranges in a juicer.
2. Combine orange juice with water and sugar in a bowl for cooking, heat to a boil.
3. Cut the melon into pieces, grind in a blender until puree, put in boiling orange juice, boil for 3 minutes, remove from heat.
4. Add swollen gelatin (previously put 10 g of the product in a third of a glass of water) and stir until it dissolves.
5. Immediately pour into sterilized jars and roll them up.

With honey and rum

A dessert option for adults for a holiday party. The following products are needed:

• melon pulp – 700 g;
• light honey – 125 g;
• lemon – half the fruit;
• rum – 2 tbsp. L.;
• gelatin – 1 tbsp. l .;
• cardamom – 2 pcs.;
• water – 2 tbsp.

Cooking in the following order:

1. In a saucepan, combine water with honey, stir.
2. Add rum, juice of half a lemon, crushed cardamom.
3. Put on fire.
4. Grind the melon to a puree in a blender.
5. Add to the boiled mixture, in a saucepan and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
6. Turn off the heat and add the swollen gelatin. Stir thoroughly, pack hot into a canning dish.

Cardamom is optional in this recipe. Sometimes not the whole melon is turned into puree, but only part of it. The other part is cut into pieces and put into boiling syrup along with melon puree. Then the jelly will be heterogeneous, it contains pieces of fruit.

Terms and conditions of storage

Melon jelly, prepared for the winter and packaged according to the rules of canning in sterilized dishes, is stored like any jam all winter.

If there are storage conditions at low temperatures, for example, in a cellar, on a loggia, in a refrigerator, then it is better to put jars of jelly there, because there is much less sugar in such a dessert than in jam.

Melon jelly, not closed for preservation with special lids for the winter, can be stored in the refrigerator for a short time. This period also depends on whether there is a lot of sugar and acid in it, as well as on the method of preparation – how long the heat treatment of the products lasted.

Conclusion

Melon jelly for the winter will help out any hostess in the event of an unexpected arrival of guests. Such a dessert is an independent dish, to which nothing is needed to complement the taste. Preparing jelly with gelatin is easy, it does not require much labor. You just need to choose the taste of the main fruit and decide what additives to express it as much as possible.