Watermelon Jello
The taste of summer in Katy, TX
This week for our summer dessert, my girls and I made watermelon Jello. To be more exact, we made strawberry Jello in a watermelon rind.
I first found the idea at www.theidearoom.blogspot.com, a blog I check on occasion. It’s simple and fun, and Jello is healthier by way of desserts than most of the things I make, so I included it in the summer dessert line-up for my family.
The basic idea is to cut a watermelon down the middle and clean it out. Once the watermelon has been removed (and feasted on!), it is time to make the Jello.
To fill both halves of my ‘personal’ sized watermelon, I used 3 large boxes of strawberry Jello and 4 ¼ cups of boiling water. I whisked them together for 2 minutes and then poured them carefully into the watermelon halves.
It should be noted here that watermelons are round, which means they roll. And pouring boiling water into a round, rolling watermelon rind is not exactly something I’d recommend doing any time, and especially not with little helpers underfoot. This I discovered the hard way.
My solution was to put the watermelon halves into large cereal bowls (luckily for me, they were a perfect fit) – no harm done.
The Jello took roughly 4 hours to firm up, so we let it sit overnight and carved it when we had some friends over. The Jello is roughly the consistency of Jello Jigglers and stayed firmly attached to the watermelon rind. It was a striking dessert, and tasted wonderful as well.
My daughters got a kick out of eating something that looked so much like watermelon but that was a sweet dessert instead. It was so easy and inexpensive that I think we’ll use this idea for our Fourth of July cookout as well.
I’m thinking of so many ways this dessert can be extended: I think I will try it with apples in the fall and plan to keep it in mind for other opportunities.
Give this dessert a try and post a comment below!
