Watermelon Syrup

Oh, dear, this was supposed to be published two weeks ago. WordPress had a problem. You’ll love this syrup in sangria, agua fresca, lemonade, … Just use your watermelon imagination! Here’s a link to the sangria recipe.

Watermelon syrup has many uses. It’s quick to make, but you need to be careful when applying heat — more on that below.

I use the syrup as a surprise ingredient in margaritas, agua fresca, and sangria. Those recipes will follow, I promise, but here’s the key ingredient: the syrup.

Please follow the recipe carefully. If you overheat the syrup, it breaks apart into watermelon pieces and water.

Yield: 2 cups

Ingredients:

2 cups watermelon juice, strained
2 cups sugar

Preparation:

You can start with watermelon juice you have purchased or, better, start with a watermelon. Slice it up, put the chunks in a blender, and process away. A whole watermelon will require a few rounds of blender time. Strain the blender contents. You’ll have a major amount of pulp that you do not want in your “pure” juice. A medium-sized watermelon will yield at least 12 cups of juice.

Put the two cups of juice into a saucepan and add the sugar. Turn on the heat and stir constantly until the sugar is completely dissolved. Then remove from the heat.

Do NOT boil. If you overheat this “syrup” the watermelon components will separate out and you will not be able to simply “shake” it all back together.

Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate.

You can begin to use this syrup immediately. Pour a shot of the syrup in a glass and top off with soda water. Vary the relative proportions to get the satisfaction level you desire.

Watermelon Syrup