How to Dehydrate Watermelon

Dehydrate watermelon and you will have the best tasting watermelon candy or taffy! It's a fun snack for kids of all ages!

Summertime is prime time for watermelon. But do you ever feel like you have watermelon fatigue? When you've had enough, yet you still have a half watermelon sitting in your fridge, begging to be eaten?

There's a way to extend the life of the watermelon without having to finish it off tomorrow!

How to Pick a Watermelon

Dehydrated watermelon starts with a good tasting watermelon. If it's mealy, if it's tasteless, you'll end up with a sugary-sweet dense leather that doesn't taste good.

Pick a watermelon that feels really heavy for it's size and is a good rich color. Expect to find a patchy area where it is yellow/brownish. This is fine - it's where it was allowed to ripen on the ground instead of being picked early.

How to Dehydrate Watermelon

Before we get started - remember that time is relative in dehydrating. The timeframe I give is a window of drying time, but yours may take much longer depending on your machine, your home's humidity, your watermelon, and other factors.

Equipment you need

• Dehydrator
• Break Knife or another serrated edge knife.
• Cutting board - this gets messy!
• Parchment paper (or fruit leather trays)
• Airtight container

LEARN MORE: Tips for Buying a Dehydrator

Instructions:

1. Slice the watermelon into ½" slices
2. Use your knife to cut around the flesh and remove the rind.
3. Cut the flesh into shapes you prefer
4. Place pieces onto tea towels to drain a bit (I put mine on my dehydrator trays over the sink and just let them dry out for about fifteen minutes)
5. Place watermelon pieces on trays, using parchment paper if desired.
6. Dry at 135°F / 57°C for between 8-18 hrs until dry and leathery, with no signs of stickiness.
7. After 4-5 hours, flip pieces to help reduce sticking.
8. Condition if using for storage. If eating in the next week, no conditioning is necessary, but storage in the fridge is recommended.
9. Store in an airtight container for 3-6 months. You may find that you like to wrap your pieces in wax paper or parchment paper to make storage easier.

Serving suggestions:

• Try adding a little bit of salt.
• Squirt some lime juice on them before drying.
• Sprinkle a little mint on top.

These are not sticky or wet, it's just the bounce of light on the sugars. These are fully dried.

Oven Instructions:

1. Follow steps 1-4 above
2. Place on a parchment paper lined cooling rack over a cookie sheet. This allows airflow and help keep the fruit from overdrying on the bottom.
3. Dry at 140-170° for 4-6 hrs, keeping a close eye on burning
4. Turn pieces halfway through the process to help prevent sticking.
5. Condition. If eating as a snack immediately, no conditioning is needed.
6. Store in an airtight container.

Note: If your oven does not reach 170°F, go as low as possible and crack the door to allow heat to escape. Be aware of any small children or mobility impaired individuals.

How to Store Dehydrated Watermelon

As mentioned above, I find that storing watermelon taffy in parchment paper is great for anything longer than a few days.

No matter how dry you keep it, it is prone to high humidity and the sugars will absorb it and become sticky.

You can then store the parchment in an airtight container, or even zip top bag if you don't plan long-term.

LEARN MORE: Learn More: 25+ Ways to Use and Preserve Watermelon

Now...what to do with all that leftover rind....

• Watermelon Rind Pickles
• Watermelon Rind Candy
• Watermelon Rind Jam
• Watermelon Tutti Frutti

More Fruit Leathers to Try:

Strawberry Banana Fruit Leather