Homemade Watermelon Jello

One of the best parts of every month is getting my new issue of Sunset Magazine. In my August issue, they talked about melons and how to pick and serve them. I never thought about all of the things you could do with ALL of the different types. One of the recipes they had was watermelon jello. I honestly never thought about making my own jello when I can just buy a box of it, but I had a watermelon in my fridge and I really wanted to be able to say "Yeah I made my own jello - no big deal." As it turns out, it's really easy to make. This is my version of it...

What You'll Need:

2 C of Watermelon juice

1/2 C of Sugar

2 1/2 packets of Gelatine

1 C Cold water

Cool-whip for garnish

Sunset's recipe was for double this amount but it was only the two of us so I didn't need to make as much as their recipe called for. You can either use store bought watermelon juice or you can make your own - I made my own, it sounded like way more fun. I had a whole watermelon but if you're cutting the recipe in half, you only need half the watermelon. The first step is to start by cutting off both ends of the watermelon so you have two flat surfaces and no rolling watermelon. Carefully use a knife to to cut off the rind. Only take the rind off one half if you don't plan on using it right away. I was using the other half for another recipe so I peeled the whole watermelon at once.

My two halves, completely peeled.

Take one of your halves and cut that into pieces so you can puree it. The smaller you cut the pieces the easier it'll be to puree. Half way through pureeing it, use a spatula to push down the watermelon to help it along.

Once the watermelon is pureed strain it. You'll end up with a whole lot of watermelon mush and pure watermelon juice. You should have around two cups.

Pure watermelon juice...

A little helpful hint if you have more than 2 cups of watermelon juice is to pour them into ice trays and freeze the extra. You can use those to add to other juice or clear soda to make it sweeter and more flavorful and without watering down your drink the way ice will. If you don't have enough juice fill the rest up with store-bought watermelon juice or water. You won't taste the difference.

Not it's time to get the gelatine ready. Start by putting your 1 cup of cold water in a microwave safe bowl and adding your gelatine to that. Try your best to get as close to half a packet as possible. I found out a little more or less won't make a difference.

2 1/2 packets of gelatine in cold water

Let the gelatine stand for a couple of minutes. After a few it will have dissolved a little. Put the gelatine in the microwave for 1 minute. Then wisk your sugar into the gelatine. Pour your gelatine into your watermelon juice and wisk it. I mixed the gelatine-sugar mix and my watermelon juice in my big measuring cup so it would be easier to pour into my individual glasses.

Pour your jello into individual glasses to let set. I went super fancy with my serving dishes - mainly because I had nothing else cute to serve them in. It ended up working well with the over-sized wine glasses.

Let the jello sit in the fridge for about 2 hours. I made these in the afternoon so they were ready after dinner. When they are ready add as much cool-whip as you'd like and serve cold. We really liked how much they tasted like watermelon. I would say that because this dessert really brings out the natural sweetness of watermelon, you could cut these servings into quarters and actually serve 4 people. I think it would be the right amount per person. Sunset also says to serve with melon balls and mint which I think sounds delicious. I think it would help enhance the taste and texture of the jello. Overall, this is a really refreshing dessert and tastes exactly like watermelon!