Preserving Watermelon with Delicious Recipes

After our first party in the new homestead, we ended up with more food than we knew what to do with. This included two full watermelons. I am a big fan of the fruit, but there was no way I could eat both by the time they started going bad, so I would either have to find a way to preserve one, or let it go to waste. I wasn't going to allow the latter to happen.

I looked online, but most watermelon jams use the rind whites, rather than the red meat of the melon. I decided I would take some of the techniques shown and create my own experimental recipe. I think it turned out incredibly well. This recipe actually produces two byproducts. The first is a sweet, refreshing juice with a bit of zing to it. The other is a sorbet. Feel free to adapt this recipe as you see fit, and let me know how yours turns out!

What You'll Need:

• Large pot
• Stove
• Strainer
• Potato Masher or Food Processor
• Half of a Watermelon
• Confectioner's Sugar
• Few Sprigs of Fresh Thyme
• 2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice

Step One

Scoop the watermelon out of the rind and into the large pot. I used an ice cream scoop to make it a little less messy. Make sure to pour in all the excess liquid. Remove as many of the seeds as you can.

Step Two

Sprinkle about 1 cup of confectioner's sugar on top of the watermelon chunks. Stir in and turn the stove burner on to high. Continue stirring slowly until you start to see bubbles rising.

Step Three

Add two tablespoons of lemon juice, and a few sprigs of thyme to taste. I used fresh German Thyme because I love the smell and that's what I have growing in my kitchen. If you're using dried thyme instead, add a bit more, as drying can make it lose it's potency.

Step Four

Allow the mixture to reach a rolling boil for about five minutes, then turn it down to the point where bubbles still rise, but it is no longer churning. Pull out your potato masher. As the watermelon chunks continue to soften, mash them into a fine pulp.

Step Five

Use the strainer to filter as much of the liquid as possible into a jar, which you will then put into the fridge. Take the leftover pulp and place it in another container, which will go into the freezer for the sorbet. It may be tempting to add cream or milk to the pulp at this point, but resist the urge. Both the heat and the lemon juice will cause the milk to instantly curdle, making the entire mixture bad.