Watermelons!

dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m

10 years ago

To me, watermelon has three parts:

1. The rind - the white part, great for savory cooking, pickles, sautee or stir fry.

2. The pink part - not very sweet, great for salads and soups.

3. The red part - The sweet juicy center, so good ice cold for fresh eating.

Watermelons were on sale last weekend here at $3.99 each. Normally $7.99.

Got a few.

What would you do if you have too many watermelons?

1. Frozen watermelon on a stick, like popsickles.
2. Watermelon in smoothies.
3. Dehydrated watermelon treats. Very delicious and sweet like candies.
4. Water melon powder to sprinkle on ice cream, etc.

Do you have other watermelon ideas?

dcarch

Comments (11)

ruthanna_gw
10 years ago
Channel the Tiki restaurants of yore by inserting a can of Sterno to cook cho-chos.
sally2_gw
10 years ago
There's a variety of watermelon salads. I believe it's Sharon (Chase) that has a recipe for delicious one. I've also seen watermelon soup recipes, but haven't tried any. I wish I could remember where I've seen them.

One of the best watermelon treats I ever had was one you mentioned, a watermelon popsicle. Jerry and I had gone about 20 miles on a bicycle ride when we came upon a man pushing one of those little frozen treat carts. We we hot, tired and he knew he was in the right place to make a sale. I got a watermelon popsicle, and it was the best popsicle I ever had. I'm sure being hot and tired played a big role, but it also tasted just like you said above, a frozen watermelon. Very refreshing.

Sally
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I am over here in Southeast Montana and have sandy soil that melons love. When I started raising melons in the 1970's, my Burpee Hybrid muskmelons were simply delicious, now I cannot get hardly anything good out of a muskmelon. The exception was the Sunder which was superb, but Willhite quit selling. I can get good-tasting Savors in the early part of the season, but the later ones rot before they taste good. As for watermelons, some do not do well for me (Desert King). I have had only two watermelons that had a "perfume" when eaten. The one I remember the most was a White Seeded Simpson. I used to grow lots of watermelons, did not rotate and eventually my field got too diseased. Now, years later, I start on new ground, till in lots of leaves and I have vines all over the place. I really like the Sweet Favorite. They ripen early (around a month after setting on), and I can turn around and get two crops off the same vine. Some Sweet Favorites do not get the sweetness of the others, I wonder if one should withhold the water for a few weeks before ripening. To tell when a melon is ripe: I used to scratch the melon with the date it set on. For example, if a melon set on July 19, I would take a knife or nail and scratch "J19 on the skin and the resulting scar would remain. Then, since it takes six weeks for most watermelons to ripen, I would harvest the melon six weeks later (September 1st for the above J19 melon. Now, I think I will take an ear tag (that they use in a calf's ear), and if a watermelon sets on July 19 th, write that on the ear tag and set it beside the melon. I actually would go out July 23 d, see a watermelon the size of a chicken egg, and subtract a few days and write J19 on the tag. But I do agree that the Orange Glo is a very delicious watermelon. And it has a taste that is more than sweet. This year my Orange Glos tailed off in sweetness at the end of the season. I tried the Moon and Stars a few years ago and was impressed with their earliness. But I ran into problems this past year as I picked the first ones too early. I think that in excellent soil, they ripen later than if they are on just average soil. And they do taste very good. This year, I will plant around 50% Sweet Favorite and 50% Moon and Stars. With a few new ones. I finally found a source for the Tiger Baby (Anderson Seed and Garden Logan Utah.) The Tiger Baby is a small melon, short vines and ripens in 30 days from setting on for me. The flesh is only pink, but I am going to try plastic tunnels, underground heating to try and get very early melons. I like to take a heat lamp (put in a 100 watt bulb), and set it next to the watermelon plants in the plastic hot kap for overnight heating of the soil (heat lamp is face down on the dirt). Sometimes the bulb breaks due to moisture on the bulb. But the plants really thrive and grow fast if it is 100 degrees in the hot kap at night. I like the Tiger Baby's short vines because I have to cover all my watermelons with wire with small holes due to the hail we seem to get every year. Is that called hardware cloth?
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Teresa_MN
10 years ago
I have never seen dehydrated watermelon. Does it take a long time with all the water it contains?
artsyshell
10 years ago
Dcarch, I've never seen dehydrated watermelon. Cool!

Ruthanna, Your cho cho's look wonderful! (what are they)?

I picked up a watermelon the other day, so I could try this recipe. http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-watermelon-with-chile-and-lime-recipes-from-the-kitchn-191701

I've had watermelon with feta, mint and balsamic, which is really good! (using both cubed watermelon and feta).
dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
Original Author
10 years ago
I sliced the watermelon into 1/2 " to 3/4" thick full size slices, at highest temperature setting, they took 18 hours to dry out.

They are very crispy and can be easily turn to powder with you blender or coffee grinder.

The slices are very sweet, considering 95% reduction in volume and concentrated sugar.

dcarch
westsider40
10 years ago
You are really creative, dc. Good thinking. Ahead of your time, for sure.
nancyofnc
10 years ago
Put watermelon (red part) into a juicer and chill it for "watermelon juice" - refreshing breakfast treat.
Make Salted Watermelon Jelly from the juice and Pickle the Watermelon Rind.
Nancy
vieja_gw
10 years ago
Our Walmarts here match the prices of the other local stores for the same item so when Farmer's Market here had their watermelons on sale for $1.99 we took their ad to Walmart & got their bigger $4.99 seedless ones for $1.99! Have had six of them now so far & SO sweet! Now waiting for ours in the garden to ripen!
triciae
10 years ago
dcarch, what do you do with the dehydrated watermelon?

I've never dehydrated watermelon but it does sound good. It's been so hot/humid we're eating a whole melon every week. They've been $3.99 for the seedless type. Very good melons this year - much better than 2012.

We lost both our dehydrators in Sandy & haven't replaced them. I'm just unsure if we're going to as of yet. I do have a dehydrator setting on my range but running it all day/night sounds just awful.

/tricia
dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
Original Author
10 years ago
Tricia, there are many ways to enjoy dehydrated water melon.

1. 1/2 dehydrated - kind of leathery but very sweet for snacking. Chop it up to put in pan cakes and cup cakes.

2. Dehydrated - for snacking, no need to refrigerate.

3. extra dry dehydrated - crispy, but not burn. Very sweet like eating candy.
1. Grind the extra dry to powder - use it like sugar for all kinds of recipes, like watermelon ice cream.
Great stuff to have around in the winter time when you really want some watermelon.

dcarch
ruthanna_gw
10 years ago
I've been waiting to read a news story that the hit of some State Fair that year is deep fried watermelon but I can't imagine exactly how they would make it.

Watermelons!

Comments (11)

ruthanna_gw

sally2_gw

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Watermelons!

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dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o mOriginal Author

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