Don't throw away those watermelon rinds! Believe it or not, they make a great candy. You first soak them in a brine which helps breakdown the rind so it's edible. Then, you cook it in a sugar syrup to sweeten it up. The final step is to give it a sugary candy coating.
4 cups watermelon rind, white part only, cut into strips as for French fries
1 quart water, PLUS"PLUS" means this ingredient in addition to the one on the next line, often with divided uses
1 1/4 cup water
1/4 cup salt
2 cups sugar, plus more for coating
1 lemon, peeled
Cover the rind with hot water and boil 5 minutes. Drain.
When cool, cover with a brine of 1 quart of water and 1/4 cup of salt. Set aside for at least 6 hours.
Drain and rinse several times, and then cover the rind with fresh water and simmer until the rind is tender. Drain.
In a saucepan, place 2 cups sugar, the remaining 1 1/4 cups of water, and the lemon peel. Cook until a drop forms a soft ball in cold water.
Add the rind. Simmer, stirring and lifting the rind from the bottom of the pan to prevent it from scorching.
Cook until the rind is clear and the syrup forms a long thread. remove the rind and drain. Discard the lemon peel if desired.
Drop each piece of rind in sugar for coating, and shake off the excess. Lay the rinds separately on a rack to cool and dry.
Do not use very small melons for this recipe as their rinds are too thin.
twbart72
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May 19, 2021
May 19, 2021
Very salty. I used half the sat and rinsed well. Took forever to make it. Next time will use lemon zest in the sugar mixture and boil with cloves. Some ginger powder worked a bit, good recipe just needs some tweaking.
May 2, 2021
I left it brining for 12 hours so I think that is the reason my ended up too soft. I think I let my sugary thing too long in the pan, as it started to become brown and when I tried it was too sticky on my teeth. I will try this recipe again, next time starting early, brining.
August 17, 2020
I tried it. I did one-and-a-half batches, but only still used the 1/4 C salt, because I read the comments. I rinsed and soaked until the salt stopped leeching into the water--to make sure it was all gone. I also boiled too long at the start, and skipped the second simmer, because it was already soft. I added cinnamon, ginger and squeezed a lime into the sugar syrup. Mine came out looking like brown glass. It was gorgeous. The end result was SO SWEET. Like those sugary dried pineapple pieces you buy at the super market. But it was chewier. It's good, and I'm on the look out now for other similar fruit candy recipes. Glad I tried it, but now I can't stop eating it. :)
My mother made this back in the 50s as a treat for the family. She threw away very little.
Iâm confused... do I use 1 & 1/4 c salt like it says at the top or only 1/4 c like it says in the directions?
I think you misread the list of ingredients. It only calls for 1/4 cup of salt.
June 26, 2019
I agree that it was too salty...but I used a small melon, so the rind was thin. I was disappointed at first about the salty taste, but then I covered it in Mexican spices (tajin) instead of sugar and it is EXCELLENT.
September 13, 2018
Recipe is fine. I used half the salt because of all the salty comments. I also used one clove during the sugar cooking process to add flavor as it's very bland and when i added the final sugar coating i mixed in ginger powder and citric acid (produce protector) for flavor and preservation. Gave it lots of flavor and now in a food dehydrator for an hour to dry. It's good but definitely needed the extras for flavor!
June 6, 2018
First time trying this. May leave out last sugaring step because the syrup was already crystalizing on the strips. I'll just spread them out to dry.
Ok you guys.. This recipe I made ago years but soda instead of salt works better and ginger added to the sugar and left in syrup instead of lemon and cinnamon makes for a crazy good recipe (especially if you cook it low heat longer ... found out by mistake .makes a super toffee!)
Hi there I have recently made the Watermelon Preserve (Konfyt) from another recipe. I will definitely try this one. We have major watermelons at the moment. I grew up with drying fruit, rolled fruit which we called "smear." You peal the fruit e.g. peaches, cut into pieces, mince, use a plastic table top, wipe with butter, pour the peach mixture on table. Place in sun to dry, sprinkle Castor Sugar over the now dried peach mixture. Cut into long strips. Roll up the strips and then cut into slices. Walla! Regards Frances from South Africa
October 2, 2016
Mine turned out salty as well but u think I used too much salt because I had only 1 cup of rind. I will try this again.
September 23, 2014
This wasn't salty at all like the other person reported. Although I didn't find it all that flavorful either (other than sweet) but it's past good watermelon season so it could be that my watermelon rind was just bland to begin with. Will try it again next summer.
June 20, 2014
turned out to be very good candied watermelon rind recipe. I like it dry and good for snacking. only I don't know how it can be preserve or should it be refrigerated. I will make this again!
June 24, 2013
This recipe turned out fine for me - not salty. I think you really need the brine to soften the rind or something. Anyway, thank you for the tasty and unique recipe.
Soaking it in the salt water made my candy very salty & actually ruined it. Even though I rinsed it several times and added more sugar to the syrup mix, it still was salty. That was unfortunate because the recipe requires so much prep work to get the rinds cut & then soak them for 6 hours. I'd recommend, forego the brine & follow the rest of the recipel.