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Citron Melon Preserves
Cut the melons in quarters and the quarters into smaller pieces and remove the rind; then cut the pieces into such shapes as desired.
Cubes or squares about an inch and a half in length are suitable. Cover the pieces of melon with cold water to which a little table salt has been added (a tablespoonful to a quart) and let stand over night. The next day drain and rinse repeatedly in cold water, then set to cook in boiling water. When tender and transparent, yet whole, set to drain in a colander. Allow three quarters of a pound of sugar, half an ounce of ginger root or stems, and one lemon for each pound of prepared melon; slice the lemons and discard the seeds; slice the ginger root or stems; set to cook separately in boiling water and let boil until tender. Make a syrup of the sugar and the water drained from the lemons and ginger, skim, then add the melon and let cook until the pieces of melon look plump and full of syrup; skim the melon into jars and return the syrup draining from the melon to the rest of the syrup; add the pieces of lemon and ginger and let cook until thick, then use to fill the jars. Glass cans, earthen jars or empty ginger jars may be used for storing this pre- Casaba melon may be put up in the serve. same manner.
Oriental Preserve (Bertha Ely) 1 dozen lemons 2 pounds sugar 1 quart water I large jar preserved ginger IO pounds green tomatoes (small) Cut the lemons in exceedingly thin slices, add the water, and let stand over night; cook until the lemon rind begins to be tender, then add the sugar, the tomatoes cut in thin slices, and the ginger cut in small pieces. Add also the syrup from the ginger jar. Let simmer until the tomatoes are shrivelled. Seal in glass jars, allowing plenty of syrup to each jar. Let stand three weeks before using.
A weight-ratio preserve rather than a measured one: everything is calculated from the trimmed weight of the melon, so the fruit must be prepped and weighed before the sugar is measured out. The whole method rests on cooking the melon to translucency without letting the cubes collapse.
- What citron melon isThe preserving or citron melon (Citrullus lanatus var. citroides) is a hard, pale, nearly flavourless relative of the watermelon grown specifically for preserves and pickles. It is not the candied citrus peel sold as citron, and not a dessert melon. Farmers' markets and seed catalogues still carry it; watermelon rind is the usual stand-in.</p>
- The proportionsThree quarters of a pound of sugar to each pound of prepared melon is roughly 1 2/3 cups sugar per pound. Half an ounce of ginger root is about 14 g, a piece two to three inches long.
- The salt soakA tablespoon of salt to a quart of water is a light brine that firms the flesh so the cubes hold their shape through a long simmer. Rinse thoroughly the next day, as instructed, or the finished preserve tastes faintly salty.
- The hinge: cook to transparent, not to mushThe melon is boiled in plain water until tender and translucent but still whole, then drained, and only then goes into syrup. Sugar added before the flesh is tender tends to firm it, and it softens poorly thereafter.
- Ginger root or stems"Stems" most likely refers to stem ginger, the young rhizome pieces; the recipe boils them until tender, so raw ginger is meant. Fresh ginger root, sliced thin, does the same work; if you use crystallised or syrup-packed ginger, cut the sugar slightly to compensate.
- Why the syrup is made from the cooking waterThe water the lemon and ginger were boiled in carries their flavour and the lemon's acid. Discarding it and starting with fresh water gives a thinner, blander syrup.
- Finishing and sealingThe melon is lifted out before the syrup is reduced so it does not overcook while the syrup thickens. Glass cans, earthen jars and empty ginger jars reflect period storage practice; for keeping at room temperature, fill and process hot jars according to current canning guidance for high-sugar fruit preserves, or refrigerate and eat within a few weeks.
- YieldThe original gives none. Reckon on roughly one half-pint jar per pound of prepared melon plus its share of syrup.
Citron melon earned its place in American preserving books precisely because it tastes of almost nothing: the flesh is firm enough to survive hours of simmering and it takes on whatever it is cooked with, which here is lemon and ginger. Cookbooks of the period treat it alongside watermelon rind, green tomatoes and unripe fruit as a "receiver" for sugar and spice, the kind of thrift preserve made from a crop that would otherwise go to the pigs. The instruction to store the finished preserve in an emptied ginger jar is a small period detail worth noticing: imported preserved ginger came in glazed stoneware pots that households kept and reused, and the ginger itself was sold packed in its own heavy syrup.