I would have never thought to dehydrate watermelon in a million years. My mom actually told me about it and said it was her new favorite thing to dry. But, come on, watermelon? It’s like 100% water.
Which is exactly why it turns out so good! It’s like candy. Healthy candy that you can eat handfuls of and not feel guilty about!
Plus, it’s so easy, it only took me 10 minutes last night to fill my dehydrator.
Before I tell you how to make them though, we need to chat DEHYDRATORS.
They are not all created equal. I have used my fair share of dehydrators and each one has been very different. Currently I am using three different “old fashioned” ones that were given to me by three different people. They all look like this, more or less.
I call them old fashioned not because they are old (one is actually brand new) but because the design and functionality of the new ones are a MILLION TIMES BETTER!
The Excaliber 3926TB will be the FIRST thing I buy as soon as we are done building our new house and have a few pennies to spare.
Even though I don’t own one myself, I have used a friends and I need to tell you the difference real quick ….
- The Excaliber has 9 removable trays so you can put big stuff in as well as small stuff. (Example: big bowl of bread dough needing to rise, extra thick jerky, large flowers, etc.)
- The Excaliber has the motor and fan in the back so it dries more evenly, and doesn’t get damaged when stuff drips on it while drying.
- The Excaliber has a timer. If you have ever dried food before you know how inconvenient it is to have to get up in the middle of the night to shut it off.
- The Excaliber has square trays instead of round ones! When drying fruit leather there is nothing more annoying than having to cut strips out of a circle with a hole in the middle.
- The Excaliber has a 5-10 year warranty depending on which one you buy.
- The Excaliber is way quieter then others that I have used.
If you are serious about drying, don’t waste your money. Get an Excaliber and you WILL NOT be disappointed. If you’re still unsure, just read the reviews. They are overwhelmingly positive because everyone knows it’s the best dryer out there.
The Excaliber 3926TB with 9 trays and a timer is $248.98 if you click on THIS LINK. It will easily pay for itself in one season of drying if you use it regularly.
If that seems like too big of a chunk to bite off then check out the Excaliber 3900 which does NOT have a timer. It’s $198.86 if you CLICK HERE.
Okay, let’s get back to the good stuff!
- Cut your watermelon. Chop the whole thing in half, flip it over, and slice it in a grid pattern. This makes it way easier to get your chips all the same size.
- Grab a “spear” and cut it into 1/2 inch thick pieces. It doesn’t have to be exact guys, this is not a science class. Just remember, the more uniform your pieces are the better. You want them all to be done at the same time.
- Fill your dehydrator trays so the watermelon chunks aren’t touching each other.
- Turn your dehydrator on to 135 degrees F and check your watch. Yep, that only took 10 minutes right?!?!
Now forget about it for awhile … it takes a REALLY LONG time to dry because of the high water content. But it is SOOOO worth it! Mine took about 15 hours to dry to my liking.
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Another awesome thing is that this is a perfect way to use your over-ripe watermelons. You know, the ones you cut into and they are sweet but so ripe you can’t handle the texture? Yep, now you don’t have to toss them in the compost pile.
So hustle out to the garden, or down to the store, and get yourself the biggest watermelon you can find. Your gonna need it!
CLICK HERE to see how we made tropical pineapple apricot fruit leather with our dehydrator.
Or head over to THE HOME PAGE to see what other great homesteading stuff I have around here.
~Farmer’s Wife
