Dried Honeydew
Snack
Recipe
As I progressively work my way through the various types of dried fruit it was time to try Honeydew Melon (Green Melon). From an appearance and consistency perspective compared to other melons I made an assumption the drying time and end result would sit somewhere between watermelon and rockmelon and that’s exactly what happened.
Preparation came down to choosing a ripe melon and I recommend you err slightly on the under-ripe side as this melon can get a bit soft and difficult to work when really ripe. My melon of choice was 1.1507 kg and by the time I halved it, and removed the seeds and skin, it was 744 grams of melon flesh – roughly half of what I started with. Prior to de-skinning the melon, which involved running a knife around each piece, I ran the halves through a mandolin slicer using the thick cut setting which gave me slices around 4 mm thick. Mandolin slicers really are a godsend and rapidly speedup the preparation time although you do need to make sure you use the safety guard because its sharp! If you feel like it you can cut the slices in half and in my case I did this with the longer slices.
The drying process was relatively quick at 11.5 hours with only one turning required at around the 4 hour mark – at this point I went from three trays down to two. As this melon is a bit stickier than others and it started to stick to the dehydrator trays. Had I have left the drying melon for much longer I would have had a bit of a fight removing it from the trays.
Taste wise dried Honeydew is very similar to dried rockmelon but a more subdued taste. While it is the least sugary of the melons when dried it is still very moorish and we (I) ended up eating it all before I finished writing this article. This melon is a winner and I will be happy to eat it but its going to come down to the season pricing as to what I choose.
Preparation
Preparing dried Honeydew is pretty simple although it can be a bit messy with a very ripe melon.
- Purchase a honeydew melon(s) from your local supermarket. A 1.5 kg melon will end up providing 62 grams of dried product. This melon also took up three full trays in my dehydrator or the equivalent space in the oven
- Trim the ends of the melon, cut in half, and scoop out the seeds
- Cut the melon into slices of around 4 mm thick. You can use a knife but a mandolin slicer makes things much easier
- Trim the rind off leaving as much flesh as possible. You can shorten the strips if you feel like
- Place in a dehydrator or oven on a medium heat (55-60° Celcius) for approximately 11-12 hours turning once at around the 4 hour mark. The melon is ready when it has a slight bendy consistency that once cooled becomes almost crisp
- Store in an airtight container until use
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Drying Time: 11.5 Hours
The end result for a 1.507 kg Honeydew is:
- 744 grams of Honeydew flesh
- 36 calories per 100 grams
- 62 grams of dried Honeydew
- 432 calories per 100 grams
The starting point, ripe melon weighing in at 1.507 kg
Trim the end off the melon then slice the melon to around 4 mm thick and trim the rind off
Step 3: Melon ready to dry, leave slight gaps between the fruit
Drying Honeydew after 4 hours
Melon dried, still in the dehydrator after 11.5 hours
End result 62 grams of dried Honeydew – it didn’t last long!
Last updated
14 April 2024