Watermelon Candy

As a kid, I remember watching folks make candy and being fascinated by the magic happening before me. I couldn’t tear my eyes away, whether they were making taffy, hard candies or slabs of fudge. Thankfully, some candies, like this old-fashioned watermelon candy recipe, can be easily created in your home kitchen without much more than a candy thermometer.

You need only a few ingredients to make this watermelon hard candy recipe, and no particular skill is required. Simply boil sugar, corn syrup and water until the mixture reaches the hard-crack candy stage, then pour the mixture into well-oiled baking pans to cool. Dust the cooled candy with confectioners’ sugar, crack it into small craggy bites and you have the perfect homemade food gift. Or, keep a bowl on your table to sate those sweet-tooth cravings.

Ingredients for Watermelon Candy

• Butter: Use butter to grease the baking sheets where the candy will cool. In lieu of butter, you can use spray oil; just make sure the sheets are well-greased.
• Sugar: Use granulated cane sugar for this classic watermelon hard candy recipe.
• Light corn syrup: Corn syrup prevents sugar crystals from forming as the candy cooks to help you get a beautifully smooth and glossy hard candy.
• Water: The sugar and corn syrup are boiled down with water to form the base of this watermelon candy recipe.
• Food coloring: Use just a drop or two of whatever food coloring color you’d like for your candy. We use red so that the candy comes out pink like watermelon.
• Watermelon flavoring: Different candy flavoring oils and extracts may be hard to find in a store, but you can find them online.
• Confectioners’ sugar: Confectioners’ sugar prevents the candies from sticking together so you can bag or store them in a container without the watermelon candy recipe becoming one big block.

Directions

Step 1: Boil the ingredients

Taste of Home

Grease two 15x10x1-inch pans with 2 teaspoons butter each and set them aside.

In a large heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup, water and food coloring. Cook and stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and cook—this time without stirring—until a candy thermometer reads 300°F, known as the hard-crack stage.

Editor’s Tip: Avoid common candy-making mistakes like using a non-calibrated thermometer. Before you start, boil some water and test your thermometer in it—it should read 212°. If it doesn’t, add or subtract those degrees when making your candy.

Step 2: Cool the candy

Taste of Home

Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the flavoring. Immediately, but carefully, pour the mixture into the prepared pans and allow it to cool.

Dust with confectioners’ sugar, then break the cooled candy into pieces. Store in airtight containers.

Taste of Home

Watermelon Candy Variations

• Change the flavor: If you can find the flavor, you can make it into candy! Try different fruit flavors, like strawberry, peach or lime. For the holiday season, make Christmas hard candies with peppermint or cinnamon. You can also mix and match flavors for fun combinations, like raspberry lemonade.
• Use different colors: Switch up the color along with the flavor. Use whatever food coloring you want, or use a variety for a rainbow of hard candies.
• Create lollipops: Make watermelon lollipops with lollipop sticks and parchment. Lay the sticks down on the parchment, then pour the hot candy mixture over one end of the stem to form the lollipop. Let them cool completely before lifting them from the parchment.

How to Store Watermelon Candy

Watermelon candy is easy to make ahead of time and stores well, making it a great food gift to ship. Store it in an airtight container at room temperature.

How long does watermelon candy last?

Watermelon candy lasts two to three weeks in airtight containers stored at room temperature.

Watermelon Candy Tips

Mark Derse for Taste of Home

Can you make a watermelon hard candy recipe without a candy thermometer?

You can still make hard candy even if you don’t have candy-making tools like a candy thermometer. Pour a drop of the candy mixture into a cup of cold water. If the candy mixture forms hard, brittle threads in the water, that means you’ve reached the hard-crack stage.

Should you stir the watermelon candy mixture while it’s cooking?

You can stir the sugar water initially, but it’s important not to agitate the mixture toward the end of cooking. Stirring the candy too late causes the sugar to crystallize, which prevents your hard candy from having that clear, smooth, glossy texture.

Why isn’t my watermelon candy hardening?

If your hard candy isn’t firming up, chances are you didn’t cook it quite long enough. When that happens, the water doesn’t thoroughly evaporate so the candy can’t get hard enough to crack. Make sure to cook the sugar mixture to 300° for the proper texture.