Hello,
Anyone has experience solar drying of watermelon? Besides composting watermelon peelings, what else can the peelings be used for?
1 Like
Hi Isaac,
I have never tried to dehydrate watermelon before, so sorry I can’t help there. But from my time having composting worms, I do know that they love watermelon peelings more than almost any other food scrap. Specifically red wigglers. I hope you can find other options from this community!
Watermelon rind makes pretty good pickles. They were common in my youth in southern US but I haven’t seen any in years.
You can of course dry watermelon but I think you are wondering what to do with the peals or rind… So I do a lot of experimentation and here is what I have done so far with the rinds. I use them as a vegetable in stir fry if you grate them. They are basically just taking on the flavors of other things like eggplant and zucchini. I have put pieces of rinds in my smoothies and as long as you have enough other fruits in the smoothie it just adds volume and nutrition but no negative taste. I have also tried putting them in the oven and also barbeque with some savory spices and they taste good. You do have to remove the outer layer since it is tough and I don’t think there is a way around that. I have also found that the outer leaves of cabbage and the inner core of cabbage is just fine if you shred them small enough. Here in South Sudan I encourage people to eat the edible weeds and take the vegetables to the market for maximum income generation and then bring home what people throw away and sort it out for the animals and some is still fine for human consumption. That way you maximize savings and can eventually change your eating habits once you have sufficient income or put more volunteer time into helping others.
Hi Dan,
Interesting read. I am looking at how the watermelon is dehydrated or solar dried. My worry is that since watermelon has a lot of water, it could be difficult drying it.
Please could you kindly share a video of how you solar dry the watermelon? As well as how you use the peels?
Thanks very much in anticipation.
Thanks Stacy. I hope someone who has solar dried watermelon will share a video of the process.