Watermelon Jam

Okay maybe it's just me put I've pinned thousands of things onto Pinterest, most of which I will never try. But everyonce in a while I come across a pin that I have to try as soon as possible. The other day I was browsing pinterest and saw a pin for watermelon jam.  Mind blown. I've never heard of watermelon jam and I certainly never would of though putting watermelon in jam.  Well, I had a big watermelon on my counter that my 4 year old convinced me to buy. It had been sitting there a while and needed used up, so I decided to give the watermelon jam a try. It's delicious. It's like summer in a jar.  Now, here's the thing. I looked up recipes online and came across a few different ones.  It seemed like most recipes called for 1 package of pectin and a ton of watermelon, but people noticed it didn't always set up well.  Other recipes used special brands of pectin, some used liquid and some used 2 packages of pectin.  It was all a little confusing and not very consistent.  Basically I decided to consult the little jar of Ball Classic Pectin. The kind that lets you just use the pectin by the tablespoonful and came up with my own recipe.  The first batch I made, I doubled. Bad idea. It boiled over so bad eventhough I used  my largest pot. I was also a little short on sugar.  The next batch I made pretty much used up the rest of my pectin leaving just a tiny bit in the jar so I just dumped the rest of the pectin in making it a little bit more than 5 tablespoons..  While both batches set up, it seemes as though the second batch set up much better. I don't know if that litle extra bit of pectin did the trick or if it was actually using the right amount of sugar or if it was because it wasn't double, but it worked much better the second time around.  I should probably note that 5 tablespoons of pectin from the jar is a little bit less than 1 box of powered pectin. I believe it's supposed to be 6tablespoons to equal one box. I figure using a little extra pectin wont hurt the recipe, but  may actually increase your success. Also good to note, between the two batches I canned 17 half pints and I didn't even use an entire watermelon!

Watermelon Jam

• 4 cups Watermelon puree
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 5 tablespoons Ball Classic Pectin (or 1 box powdered pectin)
• 3 cups sugar

Start by preparing you boiling water canner and jars. 

Remove rind from watermelon and discard rind. Chop watermelon into smaller pieces and puree in blender until you have 4 cups watermelon puree.  Remove seeds (I didn't take the time to remove evey single one of the little white seeds that are still edible because it was a pain, but I did remove any seeds that seems larger or black).

Mix watermelon puree and lemon juice together in a large pot. Gradually stir in pectin. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil that can not be stirred down, over high heat, stirring constantly. Add entire measure of sugar, stirring to dissolve. Return mixture to a full rolling boil. Boil hard 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam (I don't usually skim foam off of my jam, but this recipe definitely needs it.)

Ladle hot jam into prepared hot jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Apply band until fit is fingertip tight.

Process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude*. Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours.

*1,000-3,000 ft add 5 minutes
3,000-6,000 ft add 10 minutes
6,000-8,000 ft add 15 minutes
8,000-10,000 ft add 20 minutes