Thursday, July 29, 2010

Pickled Cantaloupe

I managed to land myself 2 free nearly ready to eat cantaloupes yesterday.  I'm not a fan.  Hubby already had a large amount of watermelon to eat and probably would not get to these before they were past edible.  So what to do?  Hit the books and google searches.  I didn't like most of what I saw, especially the ones where you cook it for an hour.  Then I found this little gem
Source:   Southern Living July '99 (Carolyne M. Carnevale, Ormand Beach, FL

    3
    lemons -- thinly sliced
    2 cups water
    2 1/2 cups white vinegar -- 5% acidity
    7
    cinnamon sticks -- 2 inches each
    24
    whole cloves
    2 large cantaloupes -- cut into bite-size pieces

  • Bring first 5 ingredients to a boil in a large saucepan; reduce heat, and simmer 5 to 7 minutes.
  • Pack cantaloupes into hot jars; add hot syrup, filling to within 1/2 inch from top. Remove air bubbles; wipe jar rims. Cover at once with metal lids, screw on bands.
  • Process in boiling-water bath 10 minutes. Yield: 6 pints
This one I had to try.  I didn't have any cinnamon sticks on hand and wasn't about to pay a fortune for that amount so I used ground cinnamon instead, 3 tablespoons.  And apparently I had extra large cantaloupes because I ended up having to double the liquids to fill all the jars.  Ended up with 6 pints and 6 half pints.  I made sure to add a lemon slice or two to each jar as well.

1 comment:

  1. For the cinnamon sticks, I usually get them from the "Mexican spices" section in the grocery store. The 7 2" sticks the recipe requires would be on the order of a dollar or two.

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