How do I make Candied melon?

[Matthew.Taylor]

Hey everybody, I've been looking into making Calissons lately.

 

https://www.bakepedia.com/calissons/

 

But I don't know about these candied melons the recipe calls for. I've heard of candied orange peel and other such things, but how do I go about making candied melon?

Any help would be appreciated.

[gfweb]

sounds like they get it out of a jar, from the recipe

[Anna N]

2 minutes ago, gfweb said:

sounds like they get it out of a jar, from the recipe

But it also appears to give a link to a recipe for making your own. It’s in French but not terribly difficult to understand if you have some high school French in you.

[gfweb]

2 minutes ago, Anna N said:

But it also appears to give a link to a recipe for making your own. It’s in French but not terribly difficult to understand if you have some high school French in you.

I made the fatal error of taking Spanish.

[Anna N]

16 minutes ago, gfweb said:

I made the fatal error of taking Spanish.

But that’s OK since you don’t want to make candied melon.  But you should be superb  at making paella. 😊

[pastrygirl]

Candying method should be the same regardless of fruit (or veg!). Cook slowly in sugar syrup, increasing sugar content over time. 

[Matthew.Taylor]

I know neither French nor Spanish (I took sign language in college, and can say that I have long forgotten most of it). The biggest problem I have is, are they talking about candied melon fruit (as in the fruit inside)? Or candied melon peel?

[Anna N]

10 minutes ago, Matthew.Taylor said:

I know neither French nor Spanish (I took sign language in college, and can say that I have long forgotten most of it). The biggest problem I have is, are they talking about candied melon fruit (as in the fruit inside)? Or candied melon peel?

Perhaps one of our French-speaking members will help translate the linked recipe?  I am thinking of @frogprincess or perhaps @jmacnaughtan if they have time. 

[jmacnaughtan]

It's the flesh of the melon, cut into thin slices.  Essentially: blanch in cold water brought to a boil, then shock in cold water.  Make a syrup and pour over, leave for a day.  Reboil the syrup, pour it back over.  Keep doing this for a week.

 

Sounds like far too much effort for my taste - almost as bad as making marrons glacées.  

 

You could easily substitute any other mild-flavoured, vaguely firm-fleshed and yellow or orange coloured candied fruit (pear, pineapple, guava or papaya would be fine)- among all the other ingredients, you'll never taste it anyway.  I'm a fan of calissons, and this is the first I've noticed there's any melon in there.

[blue_dolphin]

31 minutes ago, Matthew.Taylor said:

I know neither French nor Spanish (I took sign language in college, and can say that I have long forgotten most of it). The biggest problem I have is, are they talking about candied melon fruit (as in the fruit inside)? Or candied melon peel?

A quick Google around suggests that they are making candied melon slices, not candied peel. There are a number of recipes that are very similar to the one that was linked to in the OP's calissons recipe, boiling and reducing the syrup daily and pouring it back over the sliced fruit for 7 or 8 days.  

 

Here's a photo I took in a market last year.  Melons are in the second row from the bottom, second tub from the left.

[Matthew.Taylor]

It does sound complicated, but that's not always a bad thing. Maybe it's just me, but every now and then, I like making something that is horribly complicated, just to see if you can. But I will look into options I think.

[pastrygirl]

1 hour ago, Matthew.Taylor said:

It does sound complicated, but that's not always a bad thing. Maybe it's just me, but every now and then, I like making something that is horribly complicated, just to see if you can. But I will look into options I think.

 

Its simple in terms of active time, just takes a few days of hanging out absorbing. 

Edited October 1, 2018 by pastrygirl (log)

[andiesenji]

You can more easily candy this DRIED CANTALOUP from nuts.com than using fresh melons.  They also have dried cantaloup chunks.

You only need a "light" simple syrup, 1 to 1  heat it in a crock pot on low for about 8 hours and check to see if the melon has become translucent.  That is the point to stop, drain well place on a wire cooling rack over a pan and to speed things up use a fan to air dry it.