What to do with all the Cantaloupe!!! Marmalade and Ice Cream...My Gardner Guy likes it!!!

Cantaloupe Marmalade

2 cantaloupes
2 oranges, ground
1 lemon, ground
1 20 oz can crushed pineapple
4 cups sugar


Chop the cantaloupe, and gently crush it with a potato masher. Add remaining ingredients and cook until thick and smooth. Fill hot jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace and process in a water bath for 10 minutes.

High altitude instructions
1,001 - 3,000 feet : increase processing time by 5 minutes
3,001 - 6,000 feet : increase processing time by 10 minutes
6,001 - 8,000 feet : increase processing time by 15 minutes
8,001 - 10,000 feet : increase processing time by 20 minutes


Ben & Jerry’s Cantaloupe Ice Cream

1 large Cantaloupe, very ripe
1 Lemon, juice of
Ben & Jerry’s Sweet Cream Base*
Cut the cantaloupe in half and clean out the seeds. Scoop the fruit into a mixing bowl, add the lemon juice, and mash until the fruit is purred. Drain the juice into another bowl and reserve. Cover the melon puree and refrigerate. Prepare the sweet cream base and whisk in the fruit juice. Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer’s instructions. After the ice cream stiffens, about 2 minutes before it is done, add the cantaloupe. if more juice has accumulated, do not pour it in because it will water down the ice cream. Continue freezing until the ice cream is ready. Makes 1 generous quart.

*Sweet cream Base:
2 Large Eggs
3/4 Cup Sugar
2 Cup Heavy or whipping cream
1 Cup Milk

Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then continue to whisk until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Pour in the cream and milk and whisk to blend.
Makes 1 quart


Fruit spreads 101



There are six types of fruit spreads:

1.Jellies are made from fruit juice. Though it adopts the primary fruit’s color, jellies are usually translucent and of a firm consistency. Instead of J-E-L-L-O, think J-E-L-L-Y, with actual fruit nutrients.
2.Jams are made from squished and squashed fruit, resulting in a lumpy, less firm substance than that of jellies. Apparently jam-makers’ moms never chastised their children for playing with their food.
3.Butters are made from a combination of heavy fruit sauces and seasonings. Choose your flavors carefully, there’s a reason pumpkin spice butter gained notoriety over plum garlic butter.
4.Conserves are made from a hodgepodge of different fruits. So yes, a concrete representation of the term tutti frutti (Italian, for all fruit) does exist.
5.Preserves are made from fruit and syrup, like a food pilgrimage down a syrupy waterway across your pancake.
6.Marmalades are made from small pieces of citrus fruits. Imagine if chunks of fruit were time-travelers suspended in a jelly space-time continuum, that’s a mind-bending marmalade.

Georgie