How To Turn Fresh Watermelon Into A Long-Lasting, Mess-Free Sweet Treat

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Watermelon is a well-known, refreshing snack for the hotter days, but this long-lasting recipe may have just made this fruit even better. Watermelon jerky is dehydrated watermelon that makes for the perfect quick snack and tastes incredibly sweet. When watermelon is dehydrated, the flavor gets concentrated, allowing for a rich sweetness that makes the watermelon taste like candy. This recipe is easy to follow and can be stored in the freezer for up to a year. There are many ways to make a fresh watermelon last longer, but this hack may trump them all. 

To make watermelon jerky, a food dehydrator will give you the best results. A good food dehydrator should offer a large drying space and powerful technology to speed up the drying process, like this COSORI Food Dehydrator. Food dehydrators can be expensive, but if watermelon jerky is a recipe you see yourself making often, investing in one is worth it.

Dehydrating your watermelon can be difficult to perfect, which is why it's best to use a dedicated food dehydrator for this recipe. If you do not have one and aren't interested in investing, you can use your oven and bake the watermelon, which will give you a similar effect. Dehydrated watermelon is not to be confused with freeze-dried fruit, as freeze-dried fruit offers a very different texture. For the ultimate amount of sweetness, choose a watermelon with a yellow spot, indicating that it has fully ripened. You'll want to cut your watermelon slices pretty thin so that they dehydrate properly.

If you're using a dehydrator, use the fruit setting and let it dehydrate at 135-145 degrees Fahrenheit for 24-30 hours. If the watermelon is going in the oven, set it to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for at least 5 hours. For extra flavor, you could drizzle lime juice or tajin on the watermelon before baking. When the watermelon is ready to be enjoyed, you can freeze the remainder to keep as a quick snack. Dehydrated food will stay edible for quite some time, making it the perfect snack for meal prep. If you enjoy the chewy texture and sweet flavor of the watermelon jerky, this recipe can be replicated with almost any fruit — the fruit jerky options are endless.