Watermelon honey is known since the time of Empress Elizabeth. Tasty and useful, he rightly won the nationwide love. In those days it was prepared by evaporation in open, summer stoves or samanas. The modern recipe practically does not differ from the ancient method, except that the preparation of honey began to go away a little less time.
Cooking recipe
To make a watermelon honey, you need the ripe and sweetest berries. The sweeter they will be, the thicker and tastier the jam will turn out. It is also necessary to prepare the following items:
- large pot or basin;
- gauze;
- sieve;
- snicker;
- wooden spoon.
Next, we perform everything in stages, exactly in accordance with the recipe, otherwise the quality of honey can be very different from the expected result.
Recipe for preparing watermelon honey:
- Thoroughly wash my watermelons under running water and spread on a towel to remove the remaining water from them.
- Cut the fruit into 4 pieces and add it to the pan, letting the juice flow freely into it.
- With a wooden spoon, separate the pulp from the crust and let it pass through the sieve, crushing it and, at the same time, relieving it of pits.
Watermelon until filtering - The resulting mass is squeezed through a folded several times gauze fabric, pouring the resulting juice into a pan for cooking.
Filtered watermelon juice - Bring the juice to a boil, stirring constantly with a spoon, and remove from heat.
- To watermelon honey or as it is called - nardek, remained transparent, we remove the foam by a noise.
- Filter the juice through gauze.
- Again put the pan on the fire and cook on low heat until ready.
Step-by-step photo of boiling juice
Tip! During the boiling of watermelon juice, it is necessary to periodically remove foam from the foam. If this condition is met, the product will turn out to be transparent and viscous.
How to check the readiness of honey?
During the boiling process, the juice volume decreases 5-7 times. As soon as it starts to thicken, you need to drop a little juice on the smooth flat surface of the plate and slightly tilt it. If the drop does not spread, but retains its shape, then it's time to remove the jam from the fire - honey is ready.
You can also determine the readiness by checking a trickle of juice for viscidity. If it flows continuously - then honey should be cooked a little more. And if it has thickened so much that it begins to break, then you can not delay! The pan must be urgently removed from the stove!
After cooling, watermelon honey with its consistency should resemble a bee. If it turned out too liquid, then repeated cooking will fix the situation.
Tip! To avoid sticking honey, you must continuously stir it during cooking. The most suitable for this role is a wooden spoon or spatula.
How to store?
The ready-made watermelon honey is transferred to glass jars sterilized on a water bath. Tightness is ensured by screwing on the lids or by rolling with a special machine.
Store cans in a place inaccessible to light, cool place. Under these conditions honey from watermelon can be stored for several months.
An interesting fact! Watermelon honey is stored for a long time and rarely spoils, as the sugars contained in the juice play the role of a preservative, preventing fermentation.
The main errors allowed in cooking
During cooking, sometimes important points are missed, the consequence of which is a poor-quality final product.
Main errors:
- juice is digested or not cooked;
- honey in the cooking process burnt, since it was not mixed;
- juice was wrung out poorly and in honey there are bones and dense lumps.
Many of these errors can be fixed. For example, strain the juice through a sieve, if it has bones, or boil it with a too liquid consistency.
Burnt honey, in most cases, is spoiled, because even if you pour it and strain it, the bitter taste will not go anywhere and the product will only be discarded.
Tip! For cooking it is better to take dishes with a thick bottom. Then the juice will not burn.
How useful is honey from watermelon?
Nardek - watermelon honey - is famous for its useful qualities. The peoples of Central Asia have long known about its medicinal properties and are successfully used instead of many medicines.
Watermelon honey is used in the treatment of the following diseases:
- bronchitis;
- laryngitis;
- anemia;
- oncology;
- tuberculosis;
- atherosclerosis;
- cardiovascular disease.
Honey from watermelons preserves all the useful substances contained in fresh watermelon:
- calcium;
- magnesium;
- iron;
- phosphorus;
- potassium;
- beta-carotene;
- vitamins PP, B and E.
Taking watermelon honey during infectious diseases, it is possible to increase its immunity and avoid disease.
View in detail all the stages of cooking watermelon honey in this video: