Frozen watermelon juice

Watermelon season runs for a short time and watermelons fruits are most delicious at the very end of the growing season. After that, almost on a year-round basis, small, expensive and mostly tasteless watermelons grown in greenhouses under artificial light are sold in supermarkets. To preserve ripe watermelons over several months, so that they can be consumed out of season, is quite complicated. This requires a lot of space and there is a risk that, despite being preserved, watermelons will deteriorate. Therefore, it is easier to make juice or smoothie from them and then preserve it. The end of season of naturally ripened watermelons is the ideal time to freeze a little watermelon juice to be used out of season.

 

Homemade watermelon juice  


Here is a description of how to prepare simple watermelon juice that contains nothing else but watermelon. When you drink it, the taste is the same as when you eat fresh watermelon. Thawed juice may be enriched with lemon juice, ginger or mint leaves.
Preparation of watermelon juice is quite simple. You need the following accessories: a mixing bowls, a knife, a blender, a strainer, a spoon, a funnel and a bottle. It is advisable to work on a plastic tray for the reason of juice leakage from the watermelon being cut and processed.

Accessories for making watermelon juice     Watermelon


Cut and peel the rind of a ripe, sweet watermelon. The rule is: the bigger, the sweeter. For the juice, use only the red part of the watermelon because it is the tastiest and sweetest.

Pieces of watermelon     Watermelon pieces prepared for blending


Depending on the blender power, the seeds should (not) be removed from the watermelon. Watermelon is very easily turned into juice with a blender, even at its minimum power option. During a brief time of blending and at low power, the seeds usually remain whole. In this case, it is enough to strain the obtained juice through a strainer in order to remove all the seeds together with any remaining coarse fibers. If you, however, use a high-power blender that would grind the seeds, then you should remove them from the watermelon prior to blending,

Blending of watermelon     Blended watermelon juice


Strain the watermelon juice through a strainer and then pour it into a plastic bottle with the help of a funnel. The bottle should not be filled to the top, so as to prevent it to burst due to expansion of ice during freezing. Press the bottle gently to release air and close tightly. Immediately put in the freezer.

Straining of blended watermelon juice     Bottled watermelon juice


After thawing, keep the juice in the refrigerator and serve cold. It is a normal occurrence with this juice that it comes to separation between its clear liquid and solid particles, so give it a stir occasionally with a spoon.

Separated watermelon juice     Watermelon juice thawed and separated