I know that cantalope has an average ph above 6,which means that on it's own it isn't safe for water bath canning. To make it safe you would need to add a ton of lemon or vinegar, which tends to destroy the sweet yumminess of the cantalope. I know of a few people who have attempted cantalope jam, but were not pleased with the results.

The Jamlady Cookbook has a recipe for a cantalope conserve, with dried apricots and walnuts.

Ah.. I hadn't realized that. I wonder if perhaps I should make a small batch of jam just for the fridge and not worry about canning it.

Any ideas on how to preserve cantaloupe? It's not often that we get delicious cantaloupe around here. (can't say I'm enthused about pickling them)

Yes, refrigerated is no problem.

You can freeze melon chunks in a sugar syrup; that can be used in fruit salads later in the year. The melon chunks would be best-textured semi-frozen, not fully thawed.

Or use in smoothies.

One year I froze melon in a honey-sweetened syrup, which was good.

Also, somewhere I have a recipe for a melon leather if you have a dehydrator.

Generally, though I arrived at the conclusion that I prefer to enjoy melon as a seasonal item.

Carol

I found a Lime and Ginger Melon Jam recipe on Chocolate and Zucchini that I think I'll try. Normally I would not bother trying to do anything with cantaloupe but I just thought I'd try making something different for a change. Sometimes it's fun to try something new!

I've made Ambrosial Jam which contains cantalope, 3 oranges, about 8 peaches and sweetener, I think. It is out of this world. I posted it on one of the forums here, but I do believe I posted it with using Pomona's. The original recipe was made with a regular pectin. I did it with Splenda and Pomona's because both my DH and I are diabetic. If you'd like it, I will find the original recipe with sugar.

Ambrosial jam sounds wonderful! Yummy.

We have an abundance of melon in the fridge. I'm making icecream and freezing it, I found a recipe for melon icecream!

One thing that we do to preserve melon for winter is freezing. Our local melon grower gave me the technique that makes it nice and frozen not a big chunk of frozen melon. Peel and cube the melon, then flash freeze on a cookie sheet. When frozen put in zip lock bags. I have been doing this for several years and my kiddos love their frozen melon.

Stacie

I tried a cooked melon jam once, and I thought it was nasty. IMO, the heat destroyed a lot of the flavor. Melon freezer jam isn't too bad, actually, it's really just basically very sweet sorbet with pectin added.

I wish I knew what to do with all of the melons I'm getting this year. It's been a great year for them, but we can only eat so many, froze some, but don't need a ton of that because we won't use that much. I've dried them before, which is OK, but I have a giant stash of dried fruit from last year in one freezer that is still good. Took some to neighbors, some to work.

For now, my birds are eating well. Chickens, ducks, and turkeys are happy to get the excess.

Hmmmmmm.....

Freezer jam sounds interesting as does just freezing chunks of the melon. I've never tried melon jam (just thought it sounded unique).

Crossing my fingers that the roadside stand still has an abundance of inexpensive melons so that I can try doing a few things.

The ambrosial jam sounds lovely! Where can I find the recipe? Can you substitute regular pectin for Pomona?

Do you mind sharing the recipe for melon ice cream? I'd love to make one last batch of ice cream before school starts next week.
Thanks for the ideas!

Many years ago I made a pickled cantaloupe that was kind of like a single ingredient chutney. It was fabulous with meat.

This is my favorite jam. The first time I made it, I only used the pulp from 1/2 a cantalope. Guess I must have spaced out or something. It was still really good.

AMBROSIAL JAM

8 Peaches; peeled
3 lg Oranges
1 md Cantaloupe; pulp of
1 Lemon
1 cn (8.5oz) crushed pineapple
Sugar

Chop all ingredients fine. Put oranges through food chopper. Combine all with Three fourths cup sugar for every 1 cup of fruit. Mix well and let stand overnight. Next morning, gently cook mixture 1 hour, stirring frequently. Pour into hot jars and seal. Makes 8 pints.

I just got FOUR cantelopes from the farmer's market I was working at. I would often get some surplus produce at the end of the market from farmers who wanted to get rid of what they didn't sell.

I thought about pickling them, but the pickle recipe I found said they needed to be underripe, and these are actually starting to be overripe. One rotted before I even got the chance to do anything with it, so I just did a food dehydrator full of slices of cantelope. (The rest I should be able to eat fresh in time.) I didn't put anything on them, just sliced them and dried them.

I just tried a piece and it turned out well. The pieces turned out leathery and the nice melon sweetness remained intact.

I've also frozen bite-sized cubes of melon before with great success. I didn't put them in syrup or anything because they're plenty sweet enough on their own. You eat them while they're still frozen or at least partially frozen and they're quite refreshing. Probably would be good on vanilla ice cream.

If I had an ice cream maker I think melon sorbet would be a good way to preserve them as well.

If you just freeze the chunks, when they start to thaw, you can throw them in the food processor with a splash of lemon and a dash of sugar and make a fresh cantalope sorbet/granita whatever you want to call it. We just call it yummy.

Here is a cantaloupe jam recipe from The Complete Book of Home Preserving by Ann Seranne. It is an old recipe so use your own discretion. We loved it; the nutmeg and salt add a wonderful mysterious taste.

4c chopped peaches
4c chopped cantaloupe
6c sugar
4T lemon juice
1/2 t nutmeg
1/4 t salt
1 t grated orange peel (I didn't have any so I skipped it)
1/2 c blanched almonds (I eliminated because I wanted jam, not conserves)

Mix the cantaloupe and peaches and bring to a boil. Add the sugar and lemon juice and cook until the conserve is thick. Add the nutmeg, salt, orange peel, and almonds and continue to cook for 3 minutes longer. Pour into hot jars and seal. (I did the standard 10 minute water bath).

Yummy!

Sharon

I'm so excited! I got two wonderful, big cantaloupes from the roadside stand today. I'll definitely be making cantaloupe ice cream with some of it and probably freezing the rest. Maybe I'll have time (between canning tomatoes & tomato sauce & making & canning watermelon jelly) to make some jam with them as well.
Happy Dance!

Since the Ambrosial Jam has the oranges and lemon, does it taste more like a marmalade? It seems like it would.

I got peaches, canteloupe and honeydew in this week's CSA box and am thinking of making both the Ambrosial Jam and the Canteloupe Jam (without almonds). Was wondering about using the honeydew melon in the Ambrosial Jam. Any thoughts on that?

The Ambrosial Jam doesn't taste like a marmalade to me. I really can't explain exactly how it does taste except to say that all the flavors meld very well. I call it my sunshine jam.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll be making a batch tomorrow.

This weekend I made freezer cantaloupe jam. It is wonderful!!!! It was soooo easy. - 4 c. of pureed cantaloupe, 1 package of freezer jam pectin and 1 1/2 c. sugar; stir for 3 minutes and pour into containers. The only problem is that you have to have room in the freezer to store it. I really like how easy it was to spread also.