Cantaloupe Jam is a low-sugar cooked jam made with Pomona’s Universal Pectin. Pomona’s Pectin contains no sugar or preservatives and jells reliably with low amounts of any sweetener. This recipe was created by Allison Carroll Duffy for Pomona’s Pectin.
Notes
Allison says: “One thing to keep in mind in making this jam is that cantaloupe has much less acid than most other fruits. This means that this jam requires the addition of quite a lot of lemon juice to make it safe for boiling water bath canning. Please be sure to use the full quantity of lemon juice called for in the recipe. Using bottled lemon juice is highly recommended, as it has a standard level of acidity. If you choose to use fresh lemon juice, be sure to use standard, full-acid lemons.”
Servings 5 cups
Ingredients
- 6¾ cups cantaloupe (1/2-inch dice) peeled, seeded, & diced
- 2 Tablespoons water
- 1 cup lemon juice bottled
- 4 teaspoons calcium water see step #1
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 teaspoons Pomona’s Pectin mixed with sweetener
Instructions
- Before you begin, prepare calcium water.To do this, combine ½ teaspoon calcium powder (in the small packet in your box of Pomona’s pectin) with ½ cup water in a small, clear jar with a lid. Shake well.Extra calcium water should be stored in the refrigerator for future use.
- Wash and rinse jars, lids, and screw bands. Set screw bands aside until ready to use. Place jars in boiling water bath canner with a rack, fill at least 2/3 of the way full with water, and bring to a boil. Boil jars for 10 minutes to sterilize (add 1 additional minute of sterilizing time for every 1000 feet above sea level), then turn down heat and let jars stand in hot water until ready to use. Place lids in water in a small pan, bring to a low simmer, and hold there until ready to use.
- Combine the diced cantaloupe with the 2 Tablespoons of water in a sauce pan. Cover with a lid, and heat the cantaloupe on high for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally, until the cantaloupe has begun to release its juice. Then, reduce heat slightly and cook, still covered, at a low boil for another 2-3 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat and mash the cantaloupe. A potato masher works well for this.
- Measure out 4 cups of the mashed cantaloupe. (If you have extra, simply use it for something else.) Pour the measured amount of cantaloupe back into the sauce pan. Add lemon juice and calcium water and stir to combine.
- In a separate bowl, combine the sugar and pectin powder. Mix well and set aside.
- Bring the cantaloupe mixture up to rolling boil over high heat. Add the sugar-pectin mixture, then stir vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes, still over the highest heat, to dissolve pectin. Return jam to a boil, then remove from heat.
- Remove hot jars from canner and fill jars with jam, leaving ¼ inch of headspace. Remove trapped air bubbles, wipe rims with a damp cloth, and put on lids and screw bands, tightening bands only to “fingertip tight” (until resistance is met, and then just the tiniest bit more).
- Place jars in the hot water, on the rack inside the canner. (Make sure jars are upright, not touching each other or the sides of the canner, and are covered with at least 1-2 inches of water). Place the lid on the canner, return the canner to a rolling boil, and boil for 10 minutes. (Add 1 minute additional processing time for every 1000 feet above sea level.)
- Turn off heat and allow canner and jars to sit for 5 minutes. Then remove jars from canner.
- Allow jars to cool undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours. Then confirm that jars have sealed. Remove screw bands from sealed jars, rinse off outside of jars if necessary, label jars, and store for later use.
alice boyd
what is calcium water
Shelby Collings
Pomona’s Pectin is activated by calcium, so calcium has to be present in the mixture either naturally or added by you. Since most people don’t know the calcium content of their fruit, we recommend a calcium water amount in every recipe to be sure there is calcium in the mixture. If your fruit has calcium in it naturally, you don’t need to add the calcium water.
The calcium water (1/2 teaspoon calcium powder mixed into 1/2 cup water) can be stored in the fridge for several months, and will just need to be tossed if it has any floating bits or smell or color. It can also be stored in the freezer where it will keep indefinitely, but will need to be thawed before use. We also highly recommend labeling your jar of calcium water, as it seems to be the first item tossed when cleaning the fridge/freezer . 😊
Carmen
So, this is FAR too much lemon. I used a recipe from the book Food In Jars, by Marissa McClellan. However, that uses liquid pectin, and I wanted to use Pomona’s Pectin for a lower sugar jam. I used the “DIY” jam recipe from the insert in Pomona’s box, and came up with the following recipe per cup of melon (multiply ingredients based on how much melon you have):
1 cup melon
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice (.75 oz)
3/4 tsp calcium water
1/4 cup sugar (can go up to 1/2 cup per Pomona’s recipe insert)
3/4 tsp pectin
1/2 vanilla bean
I was using frozen honeydew from last year’s harvest and had 21 cups of cubed honeydew. Using the above multipliers, my jam turned out very nicely. It wasn’t lemony, and had a nice sweet taste without being overly sugary.
When the jam was finished, I recalibrated my pH tester, and tested my recipe. It was a solid 3.9 – safely below the 4.6 recommended for water bath canning! :o)
I hope this recipe helps you!
Carmen
EDIT – I made this recipe again, but with 1/3 cup of sugar per cup of melon. That pushed the pH up to 4.0. I would probably recommend against adding any higher ratio of sugar without also upping the lemon juice.
Maura
I’d like to do this with Honeydew melon. I’ve looked up the ph range, and it seems to be almost exactly the same. So should this recipe work? Or is there another recipe that would be better?
Shelby Collings
Hello Maura,
Thanks for reaching out! We have never made it with Honeydew Melon, but if the pH range is nearly identical, then it should be just fine. If you decide to give it a go, we would love to hear how it turns out!
Sandy Alvarez
Big disappointment. I followed recipe exactly and it never set. It also tasted awful. I think all that lemon juice masked the cantaloupe flavor. I threw it out.
Julie Mofle
Thank you for the response. I am going to try a Cantaloupe preserves recipe in a book I have that look good, instead. Good cantaloupe doesn’t need vanilla.
Jeannie Wright
I saw this done on Suttons Daze and I could practically smell it!! This is on my must try list. Thank you for providing wonderful recipes!