How to cook pickled melon: the best recipes for exotic snacks

An unusual way to preserve juicy and aromatic melon before winter - marinate it. Unlike jam, when pickling the fruit remains raw and does not lose useful properties. And the happiness hormone contained in melons will help you maintain a good mood and good spirits during the cold months. Later in the article we will look at the most original ways to salt or pickle melon.

Recipes for making pickled melon for the winter

Any varieties of melon of varying ripeness are suitable for winter harvesting. Even greenish and not very sweet fruits are used.

Advice. Flesh that is too ripe and loose may completely fall apart after pickling, so it is better to choose denser fruits.

All recipes contain similar ingredients (spices) with slight variations, since these are the ones that go best with melon.

With honey

Sweet version of the preparation. If desired, add a pinch of ginger or a little cloves.

Ingredients:

• 1 kg melon;
• 1 glass of water;
• 2 tbsp. l. honey;
• 2 pinches of ground cinnamon;
• 1 pinch of salt;
• 100 ml table vinegar.

Preparation:

1. Cut the prepared melon slices into pieces of any size.
2. Heat water in a saucepan to 40 degrees and add honey, cinnamon and salt to it.
3. Bring the liquid to a boil and immediately pour in the vinegar. Remove from heat.
4. Cool the marinade.
5. Place the fruit pieces in a jar and fill with honey solution.

With ginger

A zesty and refreshing option without too much heat. Recipe for a liter jar.

Ingredients:

• 800 g melon;
• 3-4 cm of ginger root;
• 100 g sugar;
• 1 pinch of citric acid;
• water.

Preparation:

1. Peel and grate the ginger root (can be cut into thin slices).
2. Cut the melon into small slices.
3. Place ginger on the bottom of the jar and fill with melon on top.
4. Add sugar and citric acid.
5. Pour boiling water over the contents of the jar. Leave 2 cm blank at the top.
6. Sterilize the workpiece in a pan for half an hour.

With cloves

This recipe uses large slices of the fruit, so the jar should be selected accordingly.

Ingredients:

• 2 kg melon;
• 600 ml vinegar;
• 400 g sugar;
• 1 cinnamon stick;
• a pack of clove buds.

Preparation:

1. Stuff each melon slice with cloves evenly along the entire length (2-5 buds per slice).
2. Place in a bowl and sprinkle with a little sugar.
3. In a separate container, combine vinegar, sugar and cinnamon. Mix thoroughly until the sugar dissolves.
4. Pour the solution over the melon, cover and leave at room temperature for 24 hours.
5. After a day, drain the water into a saucepan, boil and immediately remove from the stove.
6. Place the melon slices in a jar and pour in the resulting marinade.

With cherry

This recipe turns out sweet and very summery.

Ingredients:

• 900 g melon;
• 5 g ground cloves;
• 220 g cherries;
• 1 cinnamon stick;
• 2.5 liters of water;
• 150 ml vinegar;
• 450 g sugar;
• 60 g salt.

Preparation:

1. Cut the melon into cubes.
2. Rinse the cherries and carefully remove the pits. Place the berries in a sieve to drain the juice.
3. Mix water and salt in a saucepan. Mix thoroughly until completely dissolved.
4. Place the melon pieces in a container and fill with salted solution. Leave overnight.
5. In the morning, drain the water into a saucepan. Add sugar, cinnamon and cloves to it.
6. Bring the liquid to a boil and immediately pour in the vinegar. Cook for two minutes.
7. Place melon and cherries in the solution. Simmer over low heat for about an hour until the fruit is soft.
8. Place into jars and fill with remaining water.

With paprika

The unusual taste of this preparation is obtained through a combination of sweet honey and spicy paprika. Its quantity may be different, it all depends on your preferences.

Ingredients:

• 1 kg melon;
• 100 ml table vinegar;
• 50 g honey;
• 50 g sugar;
• 1 cinnamon stick;
• ½ tsp. ground paprika;
• a pinch of salt.

Preparation:

1. Cut the melon into small cubes.
2. Place cinnamon, sugar, salt and honey in a saucepan. Fill with clean water.
3. Mix everything and bring to a boil. Add paprika and melon pieces to boiling water.
4. Cook for 10 minutes over low heat. At the end of cooking, add vinegar.
5. Cool the solution to room temperature.
6. Place the pieces in jars and pour in the marinade.
7. Sterilize jars, covered with lids, in the oven for 25 minutes at 150 degrees.

With chili

When combined with pepper and other ingredients, the fruit acquires three shades of taste: sweet, sour and spicy. This range will not leave anyone indifferent. You will need a jar with a volume of 1.5 liters.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 kg melon;
• 2 peppers Chile;
• ½ tsp. clove buds;
• 1 tsp. allspice peas;
• 1 liter of water;
• 5 tbsp. l. Sahara;
• 1 tbsp. l. salt;
• 3 tbsp. l. 9% vinegar;
• 6 black currant leaves.

Preparation:

1. Cut the melon into cubes.
2. Place blackcurrant leaves and chili peppers at the bottom of the jar. It is better to remove the seeds from peppers first to remove excess bitterness.
3. Fill the jars with melon pieces.
4. In a separate saucepan, combine water, cloves, salt, sugar and allspice.
5. Bring the solution to a boil and cook for three minutes.
6. Fill jars with marinade.

With powdered sugar

The recipe is for one liter jar.The main feature of this workpiece is that powdered sugar, unlike granulated sugar, undergoes more thorough processing to remove various impurities. It is also believed that the powder has a richer taste due to the fine particle size.

Ingredients:

• 800 g melon;
• 1 tsp. ground ginger;
• 10 clove buds;
• 300 ml 5% vinegar;
• 100 powdered sugar.

Preparation:

1. Cut the melon into small pieces. Add powdered sugar and ginger and stir.
2. Pour vinegar over everything and leave for a day.
3. Drain the liquid into a saucepan. Add cloves to it and bring to a boil.
4. Place the melon in boiling water and bring to a boil again. Cook for half a minute. Remove from heat.
5. Place in a jar with water.

Cinnamon

For preparation, it is best to use natural Ceylon cinnamon (it has a milder taste without bitterness), but cassia will also work.

Ingredients:

• 1 kg melon;
• 1 glass of water;
• 1 tbsp. l. honey;
• 100 ml 9% vinegar;
• 1 pinch of salt;
• 1 tsp. cinnamon.

Preparation:

1. Cut the melon into pieces.
2. Pour cold water into a saucepan and dissolve honey in it.
3. Add salt, cinnamon and vinegar. Mix everything.
4. Bring the liquid to a boil, stirring occasionally.
5. Place melon in jars and pour marinade over it.

With citric acid

Recipe with a minimum amount of ingredients. It is not as original as the others, but no less tasty.

Ingredients:

• 1 kg melon;
• 1 glass of water;
• 1 cup of sugar;
• a pinch of citric acid.

Preparation:

1. Cut the melon into slices or cubes.
2. Place the pieces in a jar.
3. In a separate saucepan, combine water and sugar. Boil.
4. Add citric acid. Mix well and remove from heat.
5. Fill the jar with marinade.

In a spicy marinade

The most original recipe with a lot of different spices.You will need a liter jar.

Ingredients:

• 800 g melon;
• 1 tsp. allspice peas;
• 1 cinnamon stick;
• 3 buds of cloves;
• 1 pinch of ginger;
• 1 star anise;
• 50 g honey;
• 1/3 cup sugar;
• 1 glass of vinegar;
• 3 g salt.

Preparation:

1. Place the diced melon in a jar.
2. Mix water, sugar, salt and all spices in a saucepan. Boil.
3. Pour vinegar into the solution and remove from heat.
4. Cool the marinade to room temperature and pour it over the pieces in the jar.
5. Boil the jar for an hour in a container of water.

Tips and tricks

Before proceeding with the preparations, you should thoroughly wash the jars and sterilize them. To do this, you can use the oven, steam over boiling water or the microwave.

Advice. To avoid burns, use special tongs to hold hot jars.

After preparing the marinade and filling the prepared container, it is necessary to re-sterilize. Usually, 25-30 minutes of boiling the cans in a large container is enough. If the recipe specifies a different method of sterilization, it is better to use it, since at this time the melon reaches full readiness.

Conclusion

When there are cold rains or heavy snowfalls outside, a delicious melon pickle will remind you of warm summer days. All recipes given in our article can be slightly modified. You just need to add one of the ingredients that goes with this fruit - and the new dish is ready. So, for a better taste, you can use honey, cinnamon, star anise, cloves, ginger, mint and even curry. Experiment and find the most original flavor combinations!