Dehydrated Watermelon
When I was a kid we always had an abundance of fruits and vegetables! My mom used to have this HUGE garden that she would tend to everyday and we would visit the farmers market and roadside fruit stands! One of our favorite ways to preserve foods was to dehydrate them! My siblings and I would always sneak into the dehydrated
before the fruits were done and eat them!
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We dehydrated a ton of foods, but the one item that stood out most in my childhood memories was dehydrated seedless watermelon! The texture and taste of the dried watermelon is unlike any of the other fruits! We like to dry it completely so it is crunchy and SUPER sweet! Dehydrated watermelon is probably one of the sweetest dried fruits we have made! Everyone who has tried it agrees that it tastes like cotton candy! My boys eat it right out of the dehydrator while it is still hot, so once it is actually done I don’t really have much left to save!
Some of the foods we dehydrate:
Zucchini (GREAT for snacking and tastes like chips!)
cantaloupe
okra
kiwi
strawberry
banana
plantain (sweet)
plantain (savory) (Perfect for dipping in salsa!)
oranges (Great steeped with hot tea!)
Apples (green, red, golden)
lemons (Great steeped with hot tea!)
mango
papaya
herbs (grow and make your own spices!)
garlic (used in flavored oil or to use as a spice)
cherries
watermelon
jerky
fruit roll-ups (pour applesauce in the fruit roll tray)
For holidays and house warming gifts, dehydrated fruits and vegetables are a big hit! My sisters requested various dried fruits and vegetables as their Christmas gift this year. I found these neat vintage style mason jars at target and they make great containers to hold the dehydrated foods because they are air tight! Dehydrated foods are great to take to the movies, camping or car trips! They are a wonderful, healthy alternative to road-trip foods found at a convenient store.
Our dehydrator is a Nesco American Harvest Express Food Dehydrator. It came with a jerky gun and fruit roll trays! Amazon is the best place to buy one!
7 Comments
Janette
I love dried watermelon! Cherries are good too and apple slices sprinkled with cinnamon, Yum!!
Hima @ Hima Hearts
I want a dehydrator so badly- these look amazing! Maybe I could finally make kale chips without almost burning the house down!
Thanks for linking up with us at the Little Friday Linkup!
xo, Hima
Hima Hearts
Ashley
What kind of dehydrator do you use? My mom dehydrates pineapple and it is soooo good!
<3 Jennifer
Hi Ashley! We use a Nesco dehydrator and love it! At the end of the post there is a link to it on amazon! Thanks for stopping by!
Sheila R.
I have been planning a garden for this summer, and had been thinking of canning and freezing. I totally forgot I could also dehydrate! Thanks for sharing, I shared it across all the social networking boards! So happy I came across this today!
Mike
I never thought of dehydrating a “water”melon. I guess it’ll be worth a try if I get a dehydrator.
How does your Nesco work on making the jerky? I’ve been thinking about starting to make that.
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