Watermelon Spoon Sweets

[Kathleen]

I love spoon sweets, which are sometimes served with coffee and cold water or used as a dessert or yogurt topping. Recently, I made a spoon sweet from watermelon. There are so many recipes to make spoon sweets. For this one, I used the rind of the watermelon without the hard peel. At the end, I wanted a heavy syrup that I heap onto yogurt or something I can place a piece on a spoon to slowly enjoy. If I had wanted, I could have reduced it down to make it completely candied. With summer here for many of us, I wanted to pass the idea along.

A question that I often get is whether it tastes of watermelon. It does not. It has a slight molasses flavor, plus a hint of rosewater, caramel and vanilla. The texture is like a chewy taffy that does not stick to your teeth. The syrup is akin to molasses in thickness.

 

[Ginny]

I love spoon sweets, which are sometimes served with coffee and cold water or used as a dessert or yogurt topping. Recently, I made a spoon sweet from watermelon. There are so many recipes to make spoon sweets. For this one, I used the rind of the watermelon without the hard peel. At the end, I wanted a heavy syrup that I heap onto yogurt or something I can place a piece on a spoon to slowly enjoy. If I had wanted, I could have reduced it down to make it completely candied. With summer here for many of us, I wanted to pass the idea along.

A question that I often get is whether it tastes of watermelon. It does not. It has a slight molasses flavor, plus a hint of rosewater, caramel and vanilla. The texture is like a chewy taffy that does not stick to your teeth. The syrup is akin to molasses in thickness.

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OMG! That looks amazing! Is there a recipe that you might post? Pretty, please!?

 

[Kathleen]

But of course! This how I made mine. But...there are thousands of recipes and some wonderful Greek Yia-Yia may take exception to how I made it. I put it on CMT so I could remember what I did.

Watermelon Spoon Sweet aka Glyko Karpouzi
A spoon sweet made with Watermelon - one of thousands of variations
Servings: 1.25 quarts
Ingredients

•	2.2 pounds of peeled watermelon rind

•	4 cups of sugar

•	4 cups of water

•	2/3 cup of lemon juice

•	2 teaspoons of vanilla

•	1 cinnamon stick

•

5 cloves

•	1/4 cup of rose water

Steps

1	Leaving about a quarter of an inch of red flesh on it, cut the watermelon into 1 inch pieces.

2	Place in a bowl and cover with the four cups of water with 1/2 of a cup of lemon juice. Cover and let stand for 3 to 5 hours.

3	Reserve the water when draining the watermelon pieces. Add the sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and cloves to the water. Bring to a boil and allow it to boil for ten minutes. Discard cinnamon, cloves and any foam that forms on top of the liquid.

4	Add rose water and watermelon. Bring to a boil and allow to simmer for 90 minutes. Let the liquid cool on its own while covered. Place into the refrigerator until morning.

5	Place on the heat again to bring to boiling. Boil until the rind is soft and translucent. The syrup will be thickened as well.

6	Add the last bit of lemon juice and stir in. Allow it to cool. Place into sterilized jars and refrigerate. (Syrup can also be further reduced and made into jelly.)

7	Served chilled as is with coffee and a cold glass of water. Can add to yogurt, ice cream, or whatever suits you.

Here is the consistency of syrup. Stop cooking it down when you get it where you like it.

 

[Ginny]

Thank you!!

 

[SilverSage]

I make pickled watermelon rind every summer. It's a similar process, except I don't cook it down - I just store it in a jar and use it as a sweet pickle in dishes.

 

[Ginny]

I just found a recipe that might be a good way to use the meat of the watermelon, Dog Days Watermelon Salad, I've not made it, but it sounds promising.

 

[QSis]

Great posts, ladies!

Lee