How to prepare candied melon for the winter: the best recipes for candied melon at home

Melon is one of the most delicious and fragrant summer fruits. They eat it fresh and make many different desserts and salads. You can also store melon for future use by preparing jam or candied fruit. Let's take a closer look at how to create natural candied melons below.

How to properly prepare candied melon

To make this sweet for us, choose fruits with hard flesh, preferably unripe ones. Otherwise, instead of appetizing pieces, you will get mashed potatoes. Carefully wash the fruit, remove the skin and seeds. Cut the pulp into small pieces.

Then you can prepare the candied melon using several methods.

Method 1

To make it, take: 1 kg of melon, 1.2 kg of sugar, 2 glasses of water.

Boil water, add sugar. Boil the syrup until the sugar is completely dissolved. Place the melon pieces into the bubbling syrup and cook for 3 minutes.

Remove from heat and let stand for 12 hours. Do this 3-4 times.

When the pieces become transparent, place them in a colander so that the syrup drains completely. Then you need to dry the melon.

Method 2

You will need: lemon juice - 3 tablespoons, melon 1 kg, sugar 1 kg.

Cover the melon cut into pieces with sugar, wait a couple of hours until the juice comes out.

Pour in lemon juice and put on the stove. After boiling, cook over low heat for 2 minutes, turn off. Let stand for 8-10 hours. Then repeat the actions 4-5 times. The melon is ready when it becomes translucent. Throw it into a sieve and drain the syrup. Dry candied fruits using one of the methods below.

How to dry candied melon at home

In the sun

You can dry candied melon in the open air, placing the pieces in one layer on a plate. Such drying can last 3-4 days.

In the oven

Place the prepared pieces of fruit on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Dry at a temperature of 70-80 degrees with the oven door slightly open for 4-5 hours.

In the dryer

Place pieces of candied melon into trays in a thin layer. Create a temperature of 65-70 degrees, dry for 5-6 hours.

In the video, kliviya777 will share the secrets of making candied melon

How to find out if candied fruits are ready

Ready-made candied fruits do not release moisture when pressed; they are elastic to the touch and have a translucent light yellow color.

How to store candied melon

It is recommended to store sweets in a glass jar with a tight lid or in a cardboard bag in a cool, dry place. If stored properly, candied melon can be stored for 8-10 months.

Be sure to find time in the summer to make this unusual sweet.

It’s even more pleasant to later eat candied fruits made by yourself than to buy something unknown in a store at an exorbitant price. Prepared with love, they will give you pleasure and benefit.

How to create the most delicious candied melon at home?

Making candied melon at home is as easy as frying potatoes or cooking borscht. The time spent is absolutely worth it, because this product does not contain harmful dyes or preservatives. Ready-made candied fruits can be used as interior or decoration for confectionery products.

How to choose candied melon?

To make candied fruits in production, melons are used at the stage of technical ripeness, when their flesh is still hard, which means it retains its shape perfectly. It is difficult to find such fruits on the market or in a store. Melons that are 100% ripe go on sale - their pulp is very soft and warm, and during the cooking process it turns into puree.

In general, some types of melons (such as Kassaba, Alushta, Basvaldi, Ethiopian, Altai, Cantaloupe and others) retain a layer of dense pulp when ripe. It is located near the crust, has a thickness of about 1 cm and is considered conditionally inedible. In fact, it is perfect for making candied fruits at home.

Preparing the melon

If the melon is at the stage of technical ripeness, you should:

Wash it, cut it in half and scrape out the seeds with a spoon.
Remove the skin (this can easily be done with a vegetable peeler, but you can also use an ordinary knife).
Cut the pulp into pieces of similar size. Their recommended thickness is 1 cm. The length can be any, but it is better that the slices are not very different from each other, since the production time depends on their size. If the difference in size is significant, a situation may arise where some of the candied fruits have already reached the correct condition, while the other part is not yet ready.

If the melon is soft and fragrant, in other words, one hundred percent ripe, the preparation process changes little:

The melon is washed and cut so that it is comfortable to eat.
The juicy and soft part of the fruit is eaten, leaving the crusts and a layer of hard pulp on them. If there is no such layer, then there is nothing to create candied fruits from. You'll have to go to the store and choose another melon.
The hard pulp is cut from the skin with a knife and divided into cubes or strips 1 cm wide.

Despite the frequently encountered title “candied melon peels,” the peels themselves, that is, the rough outer shell, are unsuitable for consumption and are not used in cooking.

Recipes for candied melon

Candied fruits are pieces of fruit that have been boiled in a thick, sweet syrup and dried.

The traditional recipe uses only 4 ingredients:

water;
sugar;
citric acid;
melon pulp.

It is important to take into account the proportions of goods. If the melon is not very juicy, then take 2 parts of sugar to 1 part of water; otherwise, you will need more - 3 parts. This rule is not allowed to be abused. A lack of sugar is fraught with unpleasant consequences - candied fruits will take longer to cook and will quickly spoil. And an excess of this ingredient will cause the melon pieces to become almost stone-like.

Citric acid is added to taste. The recommended amount is 2 g for any 250 ml of water used when cooking the syrup. If you want to give candied fruits an expressive smell, you can also add vanilla or zest cut from lemons and oranges.

In general, you should not limit yourself to the traditional manufacturing option.

Multi-colored candied fruits

To make candied fruits colorful and colorful, use berry and vegetable juices instead of water:

raspberry - for a reddish color;
orange, carrot - for orange;
spinach - for greenish;
blueberry - for blue.

The saturation of the color depends on the concentration of the juice.

The inconvenience of this method is that you will have to cook the pieces of melon not in one container, but in several at once - according to the number of flowers.

Candied hedgehogs

They look special, and exotic notes appear in the taste. It’s not difficult to create such candied fruits - just add coconut flakes to the syrup. They don’t add it right away, but before the final boiling step.

Typically, for a syrup made from 250 ml of water, 50 g of chips is enough. If desired, you can increase its amount to 60–70 g.

Making candied fruits

You will get candied fruits as beautiful as in the store if you do the following steps step by step:

In the evening, cook the syrup.
Pour the melon pieces into a pan with hot syrup and, without covering, leave overnight (that is, in the dark) . You can cover the top with gauze or a sieve.
In the morning, pour the syrup into another pan and put it on the stove. It must boil for some time so that the juice that comes out of the melon evaporates (and quite a lot of it comes out).
When the syrup has reduced to its original size, pour the melon pieces into the pan and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat. The time is counted after the syrup boils.
Next, remove the pan from the stove and leave it, along with all its contents, for 3–8 hours. The longer you wait, the better the melon will be soaked in syrup.
After the specified time has elapsed, the function is repeated. Usually 3 or 4 repetitions are enough. At the last step, add citric acid. The readiness of candied fruits is determined by their appearance - when the pieces become glass-transparent, it’s time to finish cooking.
Remove the finished candied fruits with a slotted spoon and place in a colander to get rid of any remaining syrup.

After a few hours you can start drying. Dry candied melons in the oven at a temperature of about 50°C. You can also use an electric dryer or simply direct a stream of air from a fan onto a baking sheet with pieces.

Dried candied fruits are rolled in sweet powder so that they are not sticky.

Making candied melon takes approximately 2 days, but the process itself only takes 1.5–2 hours. By the way, creating this delicacy with your own hands is not only simple, but also profitable - the cost of a kilogram of the finished product is much lower than when purchased in a store.

Candied melon

Candied fruits are a delicacy that has won the hearts of both children and adults. Fragrant pieces of fruit pulp, boiled in a very rich sweet syrup, have a delightful taste, an inimitable smell and can be consumed not only as an independent delicacy, but also as an ingredient in sweet pastries and various desserts.

Among the wide range of candied fruits, those made from melon are constantly popular. Indescribably sweet and nutritious, melon is one of the main delicacies of late summer and early autumn. As annoying as it may sound, in its freshest form this sunny fruit spoils quite quickly. In order to be able to pamper yourself with melon at any time of the year, candied fruits began to be prepared from the pulp of the fruit. Fragrant slices boiled in concentrated sweet syrup and dried can not only be purchased in a hypermarket, but also prepared at home.

Calorie content and composition of candied melon

Calorie content and composition of candied melon
Benefits and harms of candied melon
Introduction to cooking

Like all candied fruits, a delicacy made from melon has a fairly high calorie content. The indicator is 319 Kcal per 100 g of product. The nutritional content is as follows: 0.6 g protein, 0.6 g fat and 52 g carbohydrates.

Let us note that almost all candied fruits are significantly inferior in their beneficial properties to the “unusual” fruits from which they were prepared. Fortunately, this does not apply to candied melon.

First of all, the sweet delicacy “inherited” the highest content of a special form of iron - trivalent. It is characterized by the fact that it is perfectly absorbed by the human body and does not cause side effects.

In addition, candied melons, even after heat treatment, immediately contain several organic acids: citric, folic, malic and succinic. Citric acid acts as an antioxidant and prevents the development of urolithiasis. Folic acid is needed so that the body produces the “happiness hormone” serotonin, which is responsible for our sensory background. In addition, it supports cell regeneration. Malic acid is involved in metabolism and is responsible for the body’s resistance. In the end, succinic acid slows down the aging of the body, improves the supply of oxygen to cells, and has an antiviral effect.

Candied melon contains vitamin B (a low molecular weight organic compound of relatively simple structure, essential for all living things) B, which has a beneficial effect on human immunity and is also responsible for the normal functioning of the nervous system. Vitamin C (a low molecular weight organic compound of relatively simple structure, essential for all living things) C is involved in cell regeneration, accelerates wound healing, regulates metabolism, and also promotes the absorption of iron. Vitamin (a low-molecular organic compound of a relatively simple structure, necessary for all living things) A helps strengthen bone tissue (the structure of tissues of living organisms is studied by the science of histology) , prevents visual impairment and is a massive antioxidant, and vitamin (a low-molecular organic compound of a relatively simple structure, necessary for all living) E protects the body from toxins and poisonous substances, helps normalize blood sugar levels (internal environment of the human and animal body) and improves blood circulation (internal environment of the human and animal body) .

Candied melon is a real storehouse of micro- and macroelements. This is, first of all, calcium (responsible for the strength of bones and teeth) and iron (supporting the immune system, normalizing the functioning of the thyroid gland), also manganese (participates in the synthesis of a number of hormones, is responsible for normal digestion), iodine (increasing endurance, normalizing the body’s thermoregulation ), phosphorus (support of muscle activity), copper (anti-inflammatory effect, role in the formation of the blood formula (the internal environment of the human and animal body) ), zinc (renewal of skin cells, strengthening the immune system) and potassium (normalization of heart rate and water balance in the body) .

Benefits and harms of candied melon

The fact that the bulk of the necessary substances are preserved in candied melon during heat treatment turns this delicacy not just into a sweet delicacy that can replace candy, but into a means for healing and preventing various diseases.

First of all, candied fruits, like any melon products, are very useful for problems with the cardiovascular system. They have a strengthening effect on the walls of blood vessels and prevent the appearance of atherosclerotic plaques.

In addition, candied melon has a mild diuretic effect, preventing the development of urolithiasis.

The dietary fiber present in this delicacy regulates digestion by binding and removing toxins from the body (Ancient Greek toxin (toxikos) - poisonous - poison of biological origin) .

The high content of antioxidants makes candied melon an indispensable product for beautiful skin, hair and nails.

Due to the high sugar content, candied fruits “work” as a good antidepressant, which, moreover, helps improve performance and concentration.

And yet, despite such an impressive list of positive parameters, candied melon has several contraindications. So, people who are allergic to beta-carotene should absolutely not use them. In addition, since this delicacy is high in calories, it is not recommended to abuse it for people who are overweight and those who have been diagnosed with diabetes.

Introduction to cooking

Candied melons are a good candidate for candies and other confectionery sweets. They can be eaten as a snack with tea or coffee, and also used as a dessert.

In addition, candied melon mixes perfectly with fermented milk products. They can be added to cottage cheese and homemade yogurt. Also, candied melon will help vary the taste of baked goods and give it a unique smell.

How to make candied melon

In industrial production, candied melon is created by boiling slices of 100% ripe fruit in sweet syrup. After this they are carefully dried. Often careless manufacturers use dyes and flavors to give the delicacy the most attractive appearance and taste. But candied fruits can also be prepared at home without any problems - fortunately, for this you only need a ripe (but not overripe) melon, water, citric acid and sugar.

For one kilogram of melon you need to take 1.2-1.5 kilograms of sugar, two glasses of water and one teaspoon of citric acid.

Wash the melon, cut it in half, remove the core. Cut into slices, then thinly cut off the skin, and cut the pulp into pieces two to three centimeters long.

Place the slices in the pan. Pour boiling water so that the melon is completely covered with water. Heat it in boiling water for 5 minutes.

After this, drain the future candied fruits in a colander and wash with cool water.

Make sweet syrup. Bring it to a boil, then simmer for a quarter of an hour. Please note that the sugar must be completely dissolved. Cool and immerse melon slices in it for 10 hours.

Candied melon

Candied melons replace candies, marmalade, and marshmallows. This dish can be a complete independent dessert, or an addition to other dishes.

Products (for 10 servings)
Melon – 1.5 kg
Sugar – 300 g
Water – 100 ml
Sweet powder - optional

Candied fruits are pieces of fruit that have previously been boiled in sweet syrup and then dried. Candied fruits can be prepared using this principle from virtually all fruits and even vegetables. The raw material must be tough, which is why watermelon rinds are well suited for making candied fruits. But melon usually has soft and tender flesh that practically melts in your mouth. This is precisely why we value melon, this is exactly what we expect from it. But it happens that our expectations are not justified: it happens that the fruit from which we expected sweetness and a tender mixture turns out to be not tasty and very tough. This is not a reason to be upset, but a motivation to replenish your culinary treasury with a recipe for delicious candied melon.

I have a hard melon. If you wish, you can sprinkle the candied fruits with sweet powder at the end, but this is not necessary.

How to make candied melon:

Wash the melon, cut it in half and remove the seeds.

Let's prepare the syrup. Add sugar to the water and put on fire. Bring the syrup to a boil. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring, until the sugar dissolves.

While the syrup is being prepared, let's prepare the melon. Even the hardest melon will have a soft center. We will cut it out and eat it. Cut the melon into the smallest pieces.

Cut the rind off the melon pieces.

Cut the melon into not very thin pieces of random length. The melon will boil down during the manufacturing process and then dry out, so the pieces should not be small.

Place the melon pieces in sweet syrup. At first they will hardly fit into the bowl, and then they will become limp and take up their space.

We cook candied fruits using the method of repeated cooking. Bring the syrup with pieces of melon to a boil, cook for 5 minutes, then cool completely.

Repeat the function 8-10 times until all the liquid has evaporated. At the same time, the melon pieces will be saturated with sugar.

You can start drying. Place the melon pieces on a baking sheet. I lined the baking sheet with a cooking sleeve. Dry in an open oven over low heat (about 100 degrees). Drying time is several hours depending on the drying criteria. There's no need to rush.

Towards the end of drying, the candied fruits will acquire a pleasant honey color. Determine the degree of dryness yourself. You can bring it to the state of crackers, or you can create it so that the candied fruits are dried on top and soft on the inside.

Ready-made candied fruits can be left as is, or they can be cut into smaller pieces. I cut the first batch, and left the second in the form of oblong plates.

I sprinkled some of the candied fruits with sweet powder.

You can use them as an independent dish, you can add them to baked goods, you can use them to make desserts.