Summer is here and watermelons are available!  Of course you can chill your watermelon and just eat it.  You can plug your watermelon with your favorite beverage.  Have you tried grilling watermelon?

We should caution you right up front that watermelon takes on a bit of a different texture and is certainly different than when eating cold.  With that said, I would encourage you to try grilled watermelon.  It is tasty.

This is a simple and quick appetizer to prepare for your guests.  Perfect for a hot summer afternoon or evening.

The original recipe was from Chef Eric Streets of Eleven South Bistro in Jacksonville Beach, FL.  We've modified the original recipe with our Datil Pepper Jelly Glaze.  Pepper Jellly is very versatile.  It can be used for glazes on any vegetable and can be used as a glaze on many different types of meat.

You can prepare the ingredients in less than 10 minutes and grilling time is approximately 5 minutes.

Ingredients

• 1 large shrimp per appetizer.  The following ingredients easily accommodates 4 appetizers
• Slices of "triangular shaped" watermelon slices about 4 inches at the widest point
• 1/3 jar (8 oz jar) of Datil Pepper Jelly
• 1 piece of bacon for each shrimp
• Olive Oil
• Kosher Salt
• Fresh Rosemary Sprigs

Instructions

1. Peel the shrimp.  You can leave on the tails if you like the look.  Deveining?  That is up to you.  If you eat the crawfish heads, then maybe deveining is not worth the effort.
2. Slice the watermelon. Lightly brush each piece of watermelon with olive oil and then sprinkle with kosher salt.
3. Wrap one piece of bacon around each shrimp.  The bacon should overlap and this will help to keep it in place while on the grill.
4. Heat the grill to medium high.  If you are using small shrimp, then it might be easier to grill them on a skewer.  For the shrimp in the picture, we easily grilled them without a skewer.
5. Place the shrimp on the grill, turning frequently to prevent burning.  Also, because of the bacon fat, watch for flare-ups or you could have burnt shrimp quickly.  Cooking time is approximately 5-7 minutes.  I kept these shrimp on the grill for 7 minutes.  You want to make sure the bacon is cooked.
6. Turn grill up to high.  Place the watermelon on the grill and cook long enough to apply the grill grate marks.
7. Put the Datil Pepper Jelly in a microwave safe bowl. Place in themicrowave 30 to 40 seconds; just long enough to make the Pepper Jellythin.
8. Apply the Datil Pepper Jelly to the serving side of each watermelon slice (one side only). 
9. Set one bacon wrapped shrimp on each slice.  Use the Rosemary sprigs for the shrimp to rest against and help provide a little stability.