Soak (Brine) Time: 6-12 hours (overnight)
Cook (Boil) Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
Dehydration Time: 2-8 hours
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Video tutorial coming soon.
My household loves watermelon so much, one extra-large watermelon will last us only half of ONE day. There’s so much you can do with watermelon. You can eat it as it is, turn it into a juice, or turn it into a treat. With watermelon being almost completely made up of water, it takes almost no effort to make watermelon juice. Just cut off the red fruit, toss it in your blender or food processor, and pulse into a juice. You can strain the juice through a sieve to reduce any unwanted pulp. Take it a step further and freeze your juice into watermelon popsicles or Italian ice. Did you know that you can also repurpose the rind (bitter green flesh) of your watermelon? While there’s several ways to do this, my favorite is turning them into candy.
The Process
Making candy from watermelon rinds is a pretty easy and straight-forward process. You are pretty much just boiling them until they become tender and translucent. Instead of boiling mine in added water, I puree enough of the watermelon to create 4 cups of watermelon juice. You don’t need a juicer. The water content in watermelon is so high, simply pulsing the fruit in a blender or food processor will turn it into juice.
You don’t need to soak them in a brine beforehand, but I find that it makes the rind easier to tenderize while also making it more flavorful. The dehydration process is completely optional, and your candied rinds are ready once they have turned translucent and have been coated in your homemade syrup. I like to dehydrate mine for the candy experience and feel.
Sizing
When it comes to cutting your rinds into pieces, there’s no specific guideline. Cut them down to the shape and size that you desire. Remember, it needs to fit into the pot and be submergible. You will notice that I cut mine into small pieces. but that is not necessary. Just remember to adjust your timing expectations, depending on how large or thick the pieces are.
Sugar Content and Substitutions
The base of our candy is bitter and brined watermelon rind. This means that the sweetness has to be added. Although I use four cups of sugar altogether (2 cups granulated; 2 cups light brown), the sugar can be replaced with your favorite substitute sweetener, such as monk fruit or stevia. Other great substitutes include coconut sugar, allulose, coconut nectar, and agave nectar.
As far as considering this to be a “candy substitute” goes, this recipe does not qualify as a substitute unless you use a sugar substitute suitable for diabetics. The only natural part of this candy is the rind, which is cooked down and dehydrated, leaving little nutritional value. This recipe stands as a way to repurpose the part of the watermelon that many people throw away.
Other Ways to Use Your Rind
If you don’t feel like turning all of the rind into candy, or have more than one watermelon, and think it’ll be too much, there are plenty of ways to reuse and repurpose the rind! Watermelon rind is vitamin and nutrient rich. You can add them to a pot roast, stir-fry, pie filling, smoothies, and you can also turn them into jam. I often make jam while I’m making candy, because I end up with more rind than I need for candying (not everyone in the house enjoys them candied).
Watermelon rind is also great for the environment. Cut it down into smaller pieces and feed it to your garden as a nutrient-rich compost boost. You can also find recipes for homemade, nutrient-rich, fertilizer sprays that are made with leftover watermelon rinds.
Another great way to repurpose your rinds is by using them for skin care. Yes, you read that correctly. Avocado and peppermint oil are wonderful for your skin, and as an acne treatment. Add some pureed rind or juices from the rind to an avocado and peppermint solution. You now have an acne, toning, and firming solution for your skin.
(Optional) First Step – Brining
This step is completely optional but helps to tenderize and add more flavor to the candy.
Ingredients
- Sliced/cut-up watermelon rinds – remove the outer skin layer
- Enough water to submerge all rinds (depends on size of melon and amount of rind)
- Around 3 TBSP salt
Instructions
combine the salt, water, and watermelon rinds together, cover, and place into your refrigerator.
Allow them to sit 6-8 hours, drain, rinse thoroughly, and that’s it; they’re ready for the next steps.
Boiling and Sweetening the Rinds
Ingredients
- Skinned watermelon rinds (brined or non-brined)
- 4 cups watermelon juice
I puree the fruit to make 4 cups of juice. - 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 cups light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
In a large pot, combine all ingredients over medium heat.
Stir well, and keep stirring as everything heats up, ensuring that the sugar melts into the watermelon juice instead of sticking to the pot.
Bring to a boil, and allow to boil for 1-2 hours, or until the watermelon rinds have all become translucent.
Draining the Rinds and Making the Candy Coating
WAIT! Before you drain the rinds, grab a large spoon or ladle, and scoop out 2 cups of the juice from the pot.
Ingredients for Candy Coating
- 2 cups scooped out juices from the pot
- 2 cups watermelon juice
I puree more fruit to make 2 cups of juice. - 3/4 cup freshly squeezed lime (or lemon) juice
I use lime juice for the candy coating. - (Optional) 1 TBSP cornstarch
No extra sugar is necessary. The scooped out and fresh juices contain plenty of sugar.
Further Instructions
Drain your tender, sweet, and translucent rinds.
Before returning the rinds to the pot, combine the WET candy-coating ingredients into the pot over medium heat.
Bring to a boil, then whisk in the cornstarch. You can also scoop out the hot liquid from the pot, whisk it into the cornstarch in a separate bowl until it becomes pasty (Oobleck), then whisk the liquid cornstarch into the pot. Doing it that way prevents any clumping.
Add the drained watermelon rinds back to the pot, then stir occasionally for 20-30 more minutes.
If you don’t want to dehydrate them, you can allow them to cool and enjoy them now, or chill and use as a jam or pie filling.
Dehydrating the Rinds
Preheat your oven to a low temperature, anywhere between 170 degrees and 200 degrees, but NO HIGHER than 200 degrees.
Place your rinds onto a vented baking rack, or parchment paper, and allow the candied rinds to dehydrate in the oven for 4-6 hours.
You may need more or less time, depending on the size and thickness of your rinds.
When they are finished, toss in powdered sugar or enjoy as is!
Have fun with it: Explore with different candying methods. I topped one batch with green sprinkles before dehydrating. this created a sugary and crunchy coating, while adding more green color to the candy.
Questions or comments? Let’s Talk!
All topics and questions will be addressed by me.
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