Watermelon Honey
This homemade watermelon honey is a naturally sweet syrup made with fresh watermelon, honey, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt. The recipe has Romanian roots, and is actually an excellent refreshing concoction.
It’s light, fruity, and perfect for drizzling over pancakes, yogurt, or summer desserts- just like my classic homemade blueberry sauce.
Using fresh fruit to whip up delicious condiments is something I am really passionate about. My extra guavas get used up to make a nice homemade guava paste, and my fresh figs get turned into a nice big batch of fig paste and fig compote.
This time, I got my hands on a lot of summer fruits. I used strawberries to make a big batch of strawberry vinegar, and I still had a whole watermelon that I wanted to use up. And that's when I thought of this recipe.
Quick Look
- 🔪Prep time: 5 min.
- ⏲️Cook time: 15 min.
- 👪 Servings: 6.
- 📋Main ingredients: Watermelon, lemon juice, sweetener of choice.
- ♨️Cooking method: Peel, deseed and chop watermelon into chunks 🡢 blend until smooth 🡢 cook down with lemon juice and sweetener 🡢 refrigerate and enjoy!
- ⭐Difficulty: Easy.
- 🥣Serving ideas: Drizzle a spoonful of watermelon honey over your pancakes or waffles for a sweet, fruity twist.
Jump to:
What's So Great About the Recipe?
- It's super easy to make- just like my olive oil caramel sauce. You'll only need a few pantry staples and fresh ingredients to put this together.
- It's perfect for summer. You can use in it cocktails, mocktails, or drizzle over chilled desserts.
Recipe Ingredients
Watermelon: Get your hands on the best ripe and juicy watermelon you can find. If you're able to find a seedless watermelon- even better!
Sweetener: I used honey (or sometimes my whipped honey) for a bit of extra sweetness. You can use regular white sugar or even brown sugar if you want to.
Lemon juice: Just a bit, to add that bit of citrusy freshness to the watermelon honey.
Salt: To balance all the flavors.
See recipe card for quantities.
Substitutions & Variations
- To lend some extra fruity, citrusy flavor to the fruit honey, you can add a pinch of homemade orange zest into the mix.
- You can choose to skip adding the sugar (or honey) completely or use a natural sweetener if you want to.
How to Make Watermelon Honey
Step 1: Chop the watermelon flesh and remove the seeds.
Step 2: Transfer to a blender jar and blend until you get a smooth mixture.
Step 3: Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.
Step 4: Add the remaining ingredients and cook until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat, cool and store for later.
💭Top Tip
Use a thick, heavy bottomed pot to cook down the watermelon syrup. This will ensure even cooking.
Tips & Tricks to Nail the Recipe
- If you spot any foaming on the surface of the watermelon syrup while it is cooking, use a spoon to gently skim it off.
- I like that slight grainy texture, but if you love a smoother consistency, you can choose to strain the watermelon honey once it has cooled down.
- Just like with my homemade golden syrup recipe, you'll need a bit of patience. Cook it low and slow, and keep stirring occasionally.
- I cooked the mixture for just around 15 minutes to get it to this consistency. If you prefer that sticky, saucy texture, you'll need to cook it down further- for about 30-40 minutes.
- If you're doing this, make sure you keep stirring every minute or so during the final 10 minutes to prevent the sugars from burning.
How to Serve Watermelon Honey
The fresh, tropical flavors of this watermelon honey make it perfect to use for pretty much any of your summer cooking experiments. You can use it as a base for your mocktails and summer drinks, or spoon it over your simple salads- like I do with my homemade pomegranate molasses.
You can also add it to your oatmeal bowl along with some frozen candied grapes or any other chopped fruits of your choice to make a nice summer-in-a-bowl kind of a situation. I also like to use it as an ice cream topping, like I do with my honey fermented cranberries.
Troubleshooting and FAQs
You can store the leftover watermelon honey in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
More Summer Condiments
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
If you tried this watermelon honey or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Watermelon Honey
Ingredients
- ½ watermelon
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon honey
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Chop the watermelon flesh and remove the seeds.
- Transfer to a blender jar and blend until you get a smooth mixture.
- Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.
- Add the remaining ingredients and cook until the mixture thickens. This should take about 15-40 minutes.
- Remove from heat, cool and store for later.
Notes
- Use a thick, heavy bottomed pot to cook down the watermelon syrup. This will ensure even cooking.
- If you spot any foaming on the surface of the watermelon syrup while it is cooking, use a spoon to gently skim it off.
- I like that slight grainy texture, but if you love a smoother consistency, you can choose to strain the watermelon honey once it has cooled down.
- I cooked the mixture for just around 15 minutes to get it to this consistency. If you prefer that sticky, saucy texture, you'll need to cook it down further- for about 30-40 minutes.
- If you're doing this, make sure you keep stirring every minute or so during the final 10 minutes to prevent the sugars from burning.
