Jam is a jelly mass of berries and fruits with added sugar. The dessert has a homogeneous consistency; its thickness is achieved by boiling. To make melon jam for the winter, use either a simple recipe or one that includes various components: fruits, spices. Housewives choose them according to their taste. Below are the best melon jam recipes.
- Features of preparing melon jam for the winter
- Requirements for the main ingredient
- Preparing containers for the start of the process
- How to make melon jam at home?
- Traditional recipe
- In syrup
- With citric acid
- Fast way
- With apples
- With lemon
- Cinnamon
- With turmeric and vanilla
- With lemon and banana
- Multicooker recipe
- Storage conditions
Features of preparing melon jam for the winter
It doesn't take much time to make jam. The initially prepared berries are placed in a container with a thick bottom, filled with water and blanched for 7 minutes.
Afterwards, the fruit is poured with sugar syrup and boiled until thick. The process is accelerated with the help of pectin; it allows you to make the jam jelly-like, reducing the cooking procedure.
A special feature of cooking dessert is constantly monitoring the fire.
It needs to be reduced or increased to keep the boiling constant. The foam that forms during cooking is removed.
The readiness of the jam is checked by scooping up a little of the delicacy and dripping it onto a plate. If the drop thickens quickly, the jam is ready.
Requirements for the main ingredient
Different varieties of melons differ in shape, color, structure and juiciness of the pulp. Berries that have tender and loose pulp are best used for making jam with a uniform structure, while dense and coarse pulp is used for jam with pieces.
Before you start making jam, the berries are washed, the skin is peeled, and the seeds are removed.
Preparing containers for the start of the process
Before filling the container with jam, the jars are washed in a hot soda solution, then rinsed with hot water.
Next, the containers must undergo a sterilization process by using a kettle, when the washed jar is placed with the neck down on its spout and boiled for 25 minutes, or by using the oven if there is a lot of delicacy to be processed. Place the containers in the oven with the neck up for half an hour.
How to make melon jam at home?
Of the wide variety of recipes, the following deserve special attention.
Traditional recipe
Ingredients needed for the treat:
- 1 kg of berries;
- 1.5 glasses of water;
- 1.2 kg granulated sugar;
- 1 lemon or 3 gr. citric acid.
The pulp is chopped into pieces and blanched for 5 minutes. The slices are placed in a colander.
To make the syrup, granulated sugar and lemon are mixed with water and boiled. The finished mixture is poured over the fruit and removed for 6 hours. Afterwards the pan is put on gas and the dish is cooked for 15 minutes over low heat.
The finished dessert is poured into containers.
In syrup
To prepare the dessert you need:
- 1 kg melon;
- 1.2 kg granulated sugar;
- 1.5 glasses of water;
- 5 gr. vanillin;
- 3 gr. citric acid.
Cooking process:
- Peel the berries, cut them in half, pull out the middle, cut into cubes.
- Pieces of the fruit should be blanched in water for 8 minutes, transferred to cold water and drained in a colander.
- Boil syrup from granulated sugar and water. Pour the pulp over it and soak in the syrup for 7 hours.
- Place over low heat, bring to a boil, cook for 3 minutes and remove from heat. Leave for 6 hours and repeat the process.
- For the 3rd time, after 12 hours of exposure, cook the jam until ready. At the end of cooking, vanillin and citric acid are added.
- The finished jam is rolled into jars.
If you seal jam that has cooled down, then it is sterilized as follows: 0.5-liter jars - 10 minutes, 1-liter jars - 12 minutes.
With citric acid
Ingredients included in the jam:
- 1 kg melon;
- 1 tsp. citric acid;
- 1 kg sugar.
The melon needs to be peeled, removing the peel, seeds, and cut into small cubes. Place the fruit in a bowl and cover with sugar. Shake the pan to mix the ingredients and let sit overnight. The next morning the melon will release juice.
The mixture is stirred again and left until evening. In the evening the pan is placed on the stove. The jam should simmer for 7 minutes for the granulated sugar to dissolve. You need to remove it from the heat and leave the dessert until the morning.
In the morning you need to boil for 10 minutes and set aside until the next morning. In the morning, boil for 15 minutes, stirring all the time. At the end you need to add citric acid. Cool slightly and transfer the jam into containers. The result is a thick mixture with pieces of melon.
Fast way
To make dessert, take:
- 1 kg melon pulp;
- 600 gr. granulated sugar.
The fruits are cleaned, peels and seeds are removed. The pulp is cut into pieces and covered with sugar. After the juice has formed, the container is placed on the fire and the mixture is brought to a boil. The fire turns off. The mixture should cool under the lid.
Then the jam is boiled again. After thickening, the pan is removed from the heat and poured into a container.
With apples
To make jam you will need:
- 2 kg melon;
- 600 gr. apples;
- juice from half a lemon;
- 1 kg granulated sugar.
How to cook:
- Peel the berries, remove the seeds.
- Cut into small pieces.
- Peel the apples, remove the core, finely chop.
- Combine apples and melon.
- Squeeze the juice from the lemon and add granulated sugar.
- The fruit mixture must stand for half an hour to allow the juice to release. Then put it on gas and cook for half an hour.
- The jam must cool for an hour, after which it is ground through a sieve.
- The mass is cooked for 1.5 hours.
- The jam is placed in a sterile container.
With lemon
To prepare the recipe you need the following products:
- melon – 1 kg;
- lemon – 1 pc.;
- granulated sugar – 700 gr.
Cooking steps:
- The lemon is zested and cut into strips. The juice is squeezed out of the citrus.
- You need to prepare a syrup from sugar and water and bring it to a boil. Add lemon zest and juice, the mixture should boil again.
- Peel the melon, remove the core, cut into cubes. Place the chopped fruit in the syrup and bring to a boil.
- Remove the mixture from the heat and let it sit for 12 hours. Repeat the procedure a couple of times until the syrup thickens.
- Distribute the jam among the jars.
Cinnamon
Dessert products:
- 700 gr. peeled melon;
- 500 gr. Sahara;
- 3 tbsp. l. lime juice;
- 3 cinnamon sticks.
The melon is cut lengthwise into 2 parts, the seeds are removed, and the peel is cut off. The fruit is cut into small cubes. Next, you need to send the product to the basin.
Pour in sugar, shake the container to penetrate the sugar under the top layer of pieces of fruit. You can sprinkle the melon in layers.
The product is sprinkled with sugar on top. The dishes are covered with a towel and left to stand for a couple of hours or overnight so that the sugar dissolves and liquid appears for preparing the delicacy.
Place cinnamon in a bowl and place it on the stove over medium heat. When the dessert boils, reduce the heat so that the syrup does not gurgle too much. This will prevent the melon pieces from getting boiled over.
The resulting foam must be removed. 5 minutes after boiling, the fire is turned off, the basin is covered with a towel. The jam should cool and gain flavor.
It is better to carry out the boiling process in the morning or evening, letting the jam brew day or night.
After 12 hours, the jam is brought to a boil again. The jam should simmer gently for 3 minutes, do not disturb it. Again, the basin is covered with a towel and set aside for a couple of hours. By the 3rd cooking, the jam will be sweet, aromatic, and acquire a honey tint. The color of the syrup will be transparent, as will the pieces of the berry.
The dessert is placed on medium heat, it should boil. Squeeze the lime juice over it, tasting the jam.The cinnamon sticks are removed from the dish.
After the jam boils, the heat decreases. The finished dessert is distributed into jars.
With turmeric and vanilla
To prepare the dessert you will need:
- 1.5 kg melon;
- 600 gr. Sahara;
- 1 PC. vanilla;
- 1 tsp. turmeric.
Step by step process:
- The main product must be cut into 2.5 cm cubes.
- Cut the vanilla lengthwise and into halves, remove the seeds and combine with sugar. Cut the pod halves in half into 4 pieces. Add granulated sugar to the turmeric.
- Cover the melon with sugar, placing vanilla pods between the pieces of fruit. Cover the pan with a lid and set aside for an hour.
- The mass is brought to a boil, the gas is reduced, and the mixture is cooked with stirring for about 20 minutes.
- The finished treat is placed in jars.
With lemon and banana
The dish includes:
- melon – 1 kg;
- lemon – 2 pcs.;
- bananas – 500 gr.;
- sugar – 800 gr.
How to make jam:
- Peel the melon, remove the middle, cut into cubes. Place in a bowl with a thick bottom, cover with granulated sugar and leave for 12 hours until the juice is released and the sugar dissolves.
- The juice is squeezed out of 1 lemon and added to the melon, the mixture should boil. The second citrus is peeled and cut into thin strips. The heat is reduced, the jam is cooked for 30 minutes, and the foam is removed.
- Bananas are peeled and cut into rings. Sliced banana and lemon are added to the jam, the mixture is placed on medium heat.
- The dessert should be boiled until it boils, then it is set aside to cool and returned to the heat again so that the jam boils.
- The result is a thick jam with a reddish tint.
- The dessert is poured into jars.
Multicooker recipe
To prepare jam you need to take:
- 1 kg melon;
- 500 gr. Sahara;
- 1 lemon.
Step by step process:
- The main product is cleared of seeds and peel.The pulp is cut into cubes.
- In order for the pulp to produce juice, it is placed in a multicooker bowl, covered with sugar and set aside for 4 hours.
- The lemon is peeled, passed through a meat grinder, and the seeds are removed. The lemon mass is sent to the melon.
- The multicooker is set to “Baking” mode for 40 minutes. The lid does not close.
- When 40 minutes have passed, turn off the multicooker and leave the jam in it until it cools down. Then the “Baking” program is used again for 40 minutes.
- Again the dessert should cool down.
- The third approach is longer, takes 1 hour.
- With each cooking, the fruit slices will change in color, darkening, and the dish will thicken.
- The jam is poured into sterile jars.
Storage conditions
The finished dessert is placed in jars, which are steamed while hot. This makes it possible to store the workpiece for the longest possible time – up to 2 years.
If the jam is placed in unsterilized jars, then the product can be stored in the refrigerator for 4 months.