How to properly cook delicious marmalade from watermelon peels
In late summer - early autumn, a berry such as a watermelon appears on sale. Delicious, aromatic, juicy, sugar, which is eaten with great appetite. What else can you add? Probably the fact that you can make a delicious dessert from it - marmalade from watermelon peels, which we, as usual, throw away (see recipe watermelon peel jam). Half of the readers were probably skeptical about this, and the second - with indignation, they say, what kind of marmalade, because the crusts contain an incredible amount of nitrates.
We can assure you: nitrates are removed by preliminary preparation of the crusts. You can also grow watermelons on your site or buy a berry without nitrates. And at the expense of the taste quality of marmalade ... many also belonged to marrow jam... In short, try it, you will not regret it.
Required ingredients
To prepare a decent portion of marmalade you will need:
- watermelon peels - 1 kg;
- granulated sugar - 1 kg (but be guided by your taste, 0.8-1.2 kg);
- zest taken from one lemon;
- vanillin - ¼ tsp (as an option: 1 thing of star anise or ½ teaspoon of cardamom in powder).
To prepare the syrup, take citric acid - 1 tsp.
For sprinkling marmalade, you need fine sugar or powdered sugar.
Preparation of crusts
Watermelon should be washed thoroughly. You can use a brush. The berry dried with a towel is cut into portioned slices 1.5-2 cm thick. The pulp is cut (so that a small red strip of 0.5 cm remains on the crust) and eaten or put aside.
Next get rid of the green peel. The remaining white-pink "pulp" is cut into strips 0.7-0.8 cm thick.
You can give the pieces different shapes, wavy edges for beauty. But remember, they must be the same.
The resulting pieces are thoroughly washed under running water, put in a saucepan, poured with water, put on fire and brought to a boil. Then pour the water, closing the pan with a lid and throw the watermelon peels into a colander. When all the water is glass, transfer the crusts to a clean towel and allow to dry.
Thanks to this preparation, nitrates, which are contained in watermelons, are removed from the crusts.
Some housewives prepare soda water at the rate of 1 tsp. soda per 1 liter of water. Watermelon pieces are dipped into the resulting solution and allowed to stand for 6-8 hours. In this way, crusts are softened and nitrates and other harmful substances are eliminated. So how to make a marmalade from watermelon rinds?
Method for preparing marmalade
To make delicious homemade marmalade:
- 0.5 liters of water and the same amount of granulated sugar are poured into a saucepan and syrup is boiled from this mixture. The amount of ingredients is calculated for 1 kg of watermelon peels. When the syrup boils, dried pieces are added to it. Make sure they are completely immersed in it. If there is little syrup, boiling water should be added. Boil the pieces for 20 minutes, setting the fire to the lowest.
- Leave the container with the future marmalade from watermelon peels aside for 6-8 hours so that the pieces absorb the sweet liquid well.
- After that, put the saucepan on the fire again, add the lemon and the remaining 0.5 kg of granulated sugar and also cook for 20 minutes. Over time, leave the mass for 6-8 hours.
- After putting the marmalade on the fire for the third time for 20-30 minutes, the removed lemon zest and vanillin should be added to the mass. You can also flavor the future marmalade with other spices, following your taste.
- The crusts boiled for the third time are transparent. They are thrown back in a colander and the syrup is allowed to drain completely. It can be thrown away or collected and used at your discretion.
- But the marmalade should not stick together. Therefore, watermelon crusts will need to be rolled in icing sugar.
- That's it, the watermelon marmalade is completely ready. You can already eat it with tea. But if desired, the slices can be laid out in one layer on a baking sheet and dried. It is advisable to carry out the drying procedure in the sun.
Keep in mind that if the drying process is delayed, instead of marmalade you will get candied fruit - also a very tasty dish.
You can also cook marmalade from watermelon peels based on syrup from various berries, such as cherries, strawberries, raspberries. During cooking, the crusts will absorb the aroma and, as a result, acquire the appropriate taste and shade. Or maybe you have a jar of jam lying around in your bins? As they say, I don't feel like eating, and it's a pity to throw it away. Then you can safely put it into action and cook watermelon marmalade based on it. Just keep in mind that if the jam is not very sweet, you will need to add sugar.
It is not recommended to boil watermelon crusts in overcooked dark syrup. Otherwise, the marmalade will be dark and taste like burnt sugar.
For flavoring, you can add cognac, mint, cinnamon, and use coconut as a sprinkle. Ready-made watermelon jelly can also be turned into gourmet candies. To do this, you just need to dip it in melted chocolate, let it freeze and put it in vases.
In a word, in the preparation of watermelon marmalade, the flight of imagination is endless.