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September 03. 2015 12:01AM Mail Tribune 100, Sept. 3, 1915 Sept. 3, 1915 WATERMELONS MAKE DELICIOUS SYRUP FOR TABLES A delicious table syrup can be made from watermelons, and it affords to the farmer, according to the fruit juice specialists of the department, a convenient means of using the surplus watermelons which otherwise are allowed to spoil in the field. Such syrup has been made by farmers in a small way in various parts of the south, and the department endeavored to work out exact methods of making it as a possible by-product from surplus melons. This syrup can be used immediately or can be bottled hot in sterilized jars and kept just as is done in the canning of fruit. It is reddish brown in color, very sweet and well-flavored, and will serve most of the purposes for which syrup is used in the home. It has been tried with satisfactory results in making ginger cake, homemade candy and as a sweetening and flavoring in ice cream. As the specialists point out, while the juice of commercial watermelons, such as the "Tom Watson," contain on an average only about 7 per cent of sugar, or less than many other fruit juices, the ease with which the juice can be pressed out partly offsets the low sugar content. The method described below calls only for utensils found in every household Directions for Making Watermelon Table Syrup Remove the pink flesh and seeds from the rind of the sweet, fully-ripe melons. Crush the flesh with a potato masher or by running it through a meat chopper.  Place the crushed pulp and seed in cloth bags and squeeze out the juice, which flows out readily. About five-sixth of the pulp will squeeze out as juice. About 13 gallons of the juice will make one gallon of syrup. This amount of juice can ordinarily be secured from ten watermelons weighing from 22 to 25 pounds each. The juice is then boiled down into a syrup in an ordinary preserving kettle. The juice boils without much foaming until it begins to thicken, when the fire should be slackened to prevent foaming and burning. The red coloring matter in the juice coagulates during boiling, and part of it rises to the surface, where it can be removed by skimming. ... If the housewife has a candy thermometer she should take the syrup from the fire as soon as it reaches a temperature of 220 degrees F. http://www.dailytidings.com/article/20150903/NEWS/150909965 © 2015 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->