Candy made from watermelon rind has a gumdrop flavor!
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Servings: | 20 |
| Yield: | 1 cup |
Ingredients
- ¼ cup white sugar, or as needed
- 1 cup diced watermelon rind, white parts only
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup white sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons lemon grass, chopped
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle 1/4 cup sugar all over the parchment.
- Place watermelon rind in a saucepan and cover with water; bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and simmer until slightly softened, about 5 minutes. Drain, rinse, rinse saucepan, and return watermelon to saucepan.
- Stir salt and enough water to cover into watermelon rind in the saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and simmer until softened, about 10 minutes. Drain, rinse, rinse saucepan, and transfer watermelon to a bowl.
- Combine 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup white sugar, and lemongrass in the same saucepan; bring to a boil, add watermelon rind, and stir to coat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid evaporates, about 30 minutes. Continue simmering, stirring constantly, until remaining liquid evaporates and watermelon rind has a gumdrop-like consistency, about 30 minutes more.
- Transfer watermelon rind to prepared baking sheet and roll to coat with sugar. Store in an airtight container.
- I cut my watermelon into chunks, but 3×1/2-inch slivers are also nice. Depending on how fast the simmering is, the boiling time until the sugar syrup has just about evaporated could take 2 hours!
Reviews
i made this and it is a nice candy . But this candy recipe as with all candy making recipes is missing something. i made correction to. Heat good candy takes time to make. the heat level needs to be lower. low heat. cook the watermelon rind’s slower. when you stir be very slow and careful. take time. after you remove rind’s from syrup. roll in sugar. place onto a wire rack let dry. then chill in refrigerator over night to set the jell. re roll in sugar if needed.
I have to say that this was really fun to make and the end product looked great! The problem was the flavor–as in not much other than overwhelming sugary sweet. There was a certain saltiness to it as well but I couldn’t get any of my kids to eat them (not even my sugar hound). If I was to make this again (which I doubt I will) I would add some sort of flavoring–either more lemon grass or something else. And less sugar!
I was looking for a recipe for watermelon rind pickles when I found this. Never knew you could make candy with it. I tripled the recipe because I had a lot of rind. WOW This is soooo good. The only thing I did different was to add a cut up calamondin orange from my little tree to add a little extra flavor. Next time I might add several because that was delicious once candied as well. Also I think I didn’t cook it long enough once the syrup was cooked down because I did have to leave the sugared pieces in my oven overnight with the light on to dehydrate it a little as some were a little too juicy. Had my son try a piece of the watermelon without telling him what it was. He thought it was some type of butter candy and when he found out what it was he told me I should make it and sell it. For some reason, maybe the salt, it has almost a buttery flavor. Absolutely delicious and will definitely make again.
I was very intrigued by this recipe.. never had this before. Wow.. delicious. Make this, but make a double or triple batch because it does go very quickly and it takes quite a bit of time to make