Dehydrating Watermelon

I've mentioned dehydrating watermelon before.  When I got back into dehydrating things I found that all the books said not to dehydrate watermelon.  So I didn't.

The problem was that I like watermelon.  And my son didn't.  It didn't matter what I tried, my son just wouldn't eat watermelon.  So I didn't get to eat it unless I bought small precut packages.  And I didn't do that frequently.  Well, at some point my mother gave me a bowl of cut up pieces that she thought she wouldn't eat in time.  And I already had some.  So I took a gamble and put the extra pieces in the dehydrator.  I was hoping that my son would eat it if it was dehydrated since a lot of his food dislikes are due to textures/sensory issues.

It worked!

Now, if you want to dehydrate watermelon in order to rehydrate it later - don't.  It won't rehydrate into anything you would want to eat.  But dehydrating watermelon with the intention of eating the dehydrated fruit - well that's not only doable, but my son thinks it's candy.  Dehydrated watermelon is very, very sweet.  Too sweet for me.  But my son devours it.

So if you want to do this, here's how I do it to serve as a guide.  First, get or grow a seedless watermelon.  You don't want to try this with a seeded melon.  I promise it's too much trouble.

Second slice the melon into quarters the long way.  Now, next I pull out my cheap electric meat slicer.  But I've done this just fine using knives.  The trick for this next step is to get the slices as close to the same size as possible.  For a lot of foods it's not quite that critical, but for watermelon you really want the slices to be the same size in at least one direction.  And you want them to be at least 1/2" thick.  Seriously, anything thinner will drive you batty when you go to get it off and will be way too thin.  Half inch slices will dehydrate down to 1/8" or smaller thickness when done.

Now you've got the quarter circle slices that everyone devours at picnics.  In the next step you slice them again, trying to stay with even slices.  When I do it I end up with 1/2" x 1/2" watermelon sticks with a small piece of rind at the end.  This works well for helping to give portions after everything is done.

Ok, now cut the rind end off of those sticks and stick the yummy part on your dehydrator trays.  If a piece is under an inch long, put it in a bowl for munching later.  Trust me it will dry too small in your dehydrator.  I had a yummy watermelon bowl for lunch today.

Now put it in the dehydrator on a very low setting.  This is the most effective way I've found to dry the melon and not get case hardening.  It also means that you probably shouldn't do this in an oven.  I have a dehydrator with a good thermostat and a good fan but for watermelon I still rotate the trays at least a few times a day.

Now walk away for at least 24 hours.  Only come back to rotate your trays.  Because of the high water content watermelon can take upward of 24 hours to dry.  Given the humidity here, I expect the current batch will take 3 days.

Ok, when it's done you will have very, very sweet, and very, very thin, slices of yummy watermelon to set aside for treats.  If you're kids are like mine you'd better hide them.  Otherwise your "after" photo of dried watermelon will look like mine.

Enjoy the yummies!