Watermelon and pumpkin belong to the family of pumpkin plants. Their fruits are used for food, which, despite their enormous size and weight (compared to raspberries, blueberries, and so on), is more correctly called berries. For dessert in the form of jam, not only garden or forest berries are used. As raw materials used carrots, zucchini. Pumpkin jam or candied fruit is also prepared for the winter. You can use watermelon peels for this. At the same time, it turns out not only delicious, but also very healthy dessert.
Before you start making jam from watermelon peels, they scrape off the green outer part of the peel. The peels themselves are cut into rectangular pieces (with a side size of 2 to 3 cm and a thickness of a little more than 1.5 cm) and be sure to blanch for 3 to 8 minutes in boiling water with citric acid (the duration depends on the ripeness of the selected fruit). And only after cooling, the raw materials are boiled.
For the liquid to evaporate better, the dishes should be wide, but not too deep. Everything should start with the preparation of syrup. To do this, sugar is poured into the prepared bowl or pan, water is poured, the mixture is heated (until the sugar is completely dissolved) over medium heat. The readiness of the jam is checked by the viscosity of the syrup: it is dripped onto a porcelain plate cooled in the freezer and tilted. If the drop retains its shape, then the jam is considered ready.
Recipe 1
To make jam from watermelon peels, thick-melted varieties of watermelons are most often used. Required Products:
- 1 kg of watermelon peels (peeled and chopped into pieces of the same size);
- 6 cups (thin) sugar;
- 3 cups (thin) of water;
- vanilla;
- lemon acid.
First, boil the syrup from sugar and water. Pieces of crusts cooled after blanching are poured with syrup before cooking and set aside. Jam is cooked from watermelon peels in three steps, between which it is kept for 8 hours. Before each new cooking, sugar syrup is added. Before the last procedure, put vanilla and crystals of citric acid in jam. Pack watermelon jam in prepared jars and put in the refrigerator.
Recipe 2
Usually jam from watermelon peels is cooked from not quite ripe berries. The following products will be required:
- 1 kg of watermelon peels (only white pulp, cut into pieces of approximately the same size);
- 8 cups (thin) sugar;
- 3 cups (thin) of water;
- citric acid.
Syrup is prepared and watermelon peels, previously blanched in boiling water, are lowered into it. Cook until all slices become transparent. Crystals of citric acid are added at the very end of cooking. Remove from heat, cover the dishes with gauze jam and let it cool. Pour jam from watermelon peels, trying to evenly distribute the syrup and slices of watermelon into prepared (washed with detergent and dried) jars. Store in the refrigerator.
Recipe 3
Here is a recipe for making excellent candied fruit from watermelon peels or pumpkin. This delicious dessert is especially useful for children who love it very much. First, all the ingredients are cooked.
For soda solution:
- 5 glasses of water;
- 7 g (a little more than ½ tablespoon) of tea baking soda.
For candied fruit:
- 1 kg of equal in size (slightly less than 2 cm thick and up to 3 cm long) slices of watermelon peels;
- 1 cup (thin) sugar;
- 1 cup (thin) of any berry juice;
- 1 cup (thin) of water;
- powdered sugar.
Watermelon crusts are poured with a solution of baking soda and left for 6 hours. Then, in a colander, washed soaked pieces of watermelon are washed with cold water. First, they make syrup. To do this, sugar is poured with berry juice and water, brought to a boil. As soon as the sugar has dissolved, the prepared slices of watermelon peels are laid out in the syrup, kept for 5 minutes, removed from the heat and insisted for 8 hours. Repeat this manipulation (heating and insisting) three times. After this, they are transferred to a colander, the syrup is completely drained. Pieces of watermelon are crushed in icing sugar and dried. Store candied watermelon peels in a ceramic bowl in a dry room.