Watermelon Rosewater Jelly

Yes, the glass looks cloudy-we have very hard water. In the morning, I'll wipe the jars with vinegar, and they'll sparkle.
I love the way the afternoon light comes through my West facing kitchen window. Yes, that's my laundry hanging on the rack in the background. If you laugh at my floral granny nightie, I'll come over and kick your teeth it. Gosh, that sure is pretty jelly.

Updated-After two weeks it has set almost completely upon storage. Sometimes this happens with plum jelly, so I was pleased to see this came together. It still isn't what I'd call "stiff", but it isn't a fruit syrup either.


Well, "jelly" is a bit of stretch as it is quite runny. I used pectin, so I don't think it is a matter of it failing to set-this may simply be the nature of watermelon. I don't know. It is about the thickness of honey-OK maybe a bit thicker, and you can certainly spread it on toast. I might try it again without pectin and just cook the daylights out of it to see if it gels.

The flavour is, according to Mr. ETB, "A bit like Turkish Delight."

I can see that, what with the lemon and rosewater. The watermelon flavour was not pronounced, but again, rosewater can be pretty overpowering. The other jars may well set up, as they went through the canner, and the one we ate from tonight did not. I've had some jellies like plum take a few days of sitting to firm. Again, I can't find much out there about watermelon jelly and this may be part of the reason. I would certainly make it again-if only as a sauce. I wish I had some lemon sorbet, or orange sherbet to pour it over.

Here's what I did:

3 1/2 cups strained watermelon juice
2 tablespoons lemon juice
5 cups granulated sugar
1 box powdered pectin
1 teaspoon rose water
1 lemon, thinly sliced

In a large pot, combine juice, lemon juice and pectin. Bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Stir in sugar and bring back to a rolling boil. Boil hard for 1 minute. Remove from heat, stir in rosewater and pour into sterilised jars. Place a lemon slice in each jar. Wipe treads clean and seal. process ten minutes in a water bath canner. Makes 6-7 half pints.