anyone done spreads or jams for melons to
deal with the extra harvest and for preserving?

how about juicing?

looks like we may have a lot extra and just
in case i have the time and energy to do it
it would be fun to experiment.

i do like sweet and sour things and some
spices and heat are ok too. my favorite
peach jam so far was one made with a little
vinegar, some green curry and some red pepper
flakes. i may try a variation of that with
the melon. also possibly adding some onion
to make a relish/spread.

any other ideas? thanks!


songbird

songbird > wrote:
> anyone done spreads or jams for melons to
> deal with the extra harvest and for preserving?
>
> how about juicing?
>

If you try juicing and end up with too much to store
freeze concentrating works to a degree.

Not so good as fresh, but better than nothing in February....

HTH,

bob prohaska

bob prohaska wrote:
> songbird > wrote:
>> anyone done spreads or jams for melons to
>> deal with the extra harvest and for preserving?
>>
>> how about juicing?
>
> If you try juicing and end up with too much to store
> freeze concentrating works to a degree.
>
> Not so good as fresh, but better than nothing in February....

i don't have much room in the freezer so i'm
not sure how well i can manage something like
that.

i have some spices/hot green curry paste, etc. i'd
like to use up so i may try various batches of that
kind of preserve. i really liked some peach jam i
made years ago that had the blend of sweet and sour
and hot green curry in it so this may work out well.
i'll also check the recipes on the web too when it
comes down to it if needed.

i did manage to give away 11 melons yesterday
so it may work out fine that people will want them
and i won't have to do anything extra with these. i
sure won't plant as many vines next year as we don't
need this many melons, but i didn't know how productive
these vines were and i ended up replanting some seeds
after the first planting didn't take in two spots and
i only had four seeds left and all four of theose
sprouted and survived so it was hard for me to thin
those back as i only had those few seeds to start with
- i now have several thousand seeds...

right now the freezer has a large number of pint jars
from the strawberry freezer jam and frozen strawberries
for shortcakes this winter.

i tried various amounts of sugar and marked all the
jars to see which concentration we like the best. can
hardly wait to start the taste testing.

thanks!


songbird

songbird > wrote:
> bob prohaska wrote:
>> songbird > wrote:
>>> anyone done spreads or jams for melons to
>>> deal with the extra harvest and for preserving?
>>>
>>> how about juicing?
>>
>> If you try juicing and end up with too much to store
>> freeze concentrating works to a degree.
>>
>> Not so good as fresh, but better than nothing in February....
>
> i don't have much room in the freezer so i'm
> not sure how well i can manage something like
> that.
>

Same problem here from time to time.

Another, slightly more obscure idea:

https://natashaskitchen.com/how-to-m...fruit-leather/

I've sampled the version made with Persian sour plums and it's
surprisingly good, a bit like chewy fruit candy. Since melon pulp
is soft one might be able to omit the cooking step for better
nutrient retention.

If you do try it please post how it works out!

bob prohaska