Candied Watermelon Rind

It is watermelon time again. I don't like to throw away the thick rind so I looked online for a recipe using the rind and found one for cherry-flavored watermelon pickles. http://www.mysisterskitchenonline.com/2006/08/15/watermelon-picklesor-is-it-candy/ I used fresh beet juice for the red coloring as I had only 1/2 jar of maraschino cherries.

I tried it and liked the results so much I began trying other flavorings. I used cherry and rootbeer oil flavorings that I had on hand for candy making. I added a dusting of powdered ginger to the rootbeer batch. Don't use a lot of ginger unless you like it peppery. Now am experimenting with salty, hickory smoke(like bacon), and licorice using anise. This is just the beginning of my flavoring experiments.



Candied root beer-flavored rind

I decided I couldn't eat so many pickles so I am drying the candied rind. One person said she used the flavored rind in fruitcake which gave me the idea of drying. Now I have many flavored chunks drying on parchment paper on cookie sheets. I turn the chunks once or twice a day. One flavor is drying in the sun window and 2 more are drying in a cold oven. A dehydrator could be used instead. I live in the dry desert so have no problem with humidity.

I will try storing the dried candy in glass jars. Wonder if it will be sticky. May have to dust the chunks with cornstarch.

Hope you will try the cherry pickle recipe and enjoy it.