Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1915-08-25
DOMESTIC ECONOMY
HOW TO MAKE SYRUP
From WatermelOns--A Delicious
Receipt.
DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING.
Something Worth Knowing Don't
Waste Anything.

A delicious table syrup can be made
from watermelons and affords TO the
farmer. according TO the fruit-juice
specialists of the United States De-
Dartment of Agriculture, convenient
means of using the surplus water
melons which otherwise are allowed
to spoil in the field.
Such syrup has been made by the
farmers in a small way in various
parts of the South. and the Depart
ment endeavored to work out the ex-
act methods of making il as a possible
by-product from surplus melons. This
syrup can be used Immediately or il
can he bottled hot in sterilized jars and
kept just as is done in the canning Of
fruit. II is reddish brown in color,
and very sweet and well favored and
will serve most of the purposes for
which syrup is used in the homes.
II has been tried with satisfactory
results in making ginger cake, home
made candy and as a sweetening and
favoring I'm ice cream AS the spec
lists point out, while the juice of com
mercial watermelons such as the"Tons
Watson" contain on an average only
about per cent Of sugar. or less than
any 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.
Remove the pink flesh and seeds
4 90 e..rF II
ons. Crush the flesh with a potato
masher or by running Il through a
meat chopper. Place the crushed pulp
and seed in cloth bags, and squeeze
out the juice. which flows out rapidly.
About five-siXths of the pulp will
squeeze out as juice About thirteen
gallons of the Juice will make one gal
ion of syrup This amount of juice
can, ordinarily, be secured from ten
watermelons weighing from % TO %
pounds each.
The juice is then boiled down to q
syrup in an ordinary preserving ket-
tie. 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 coag-
ulates during boiling and part OF It
rises to the surface, where IL can be
removed by skim'nin The remainder
floats about in the juice, forming red
particles which gather near the top.
Toward the last of the boiling the syr-
up must bewatched constantly. If the
housewife has candy thermometer
she should take the syrup from the
fire as soon as it reaches a temper
ature of 220 degrees Fahrenheit other
wise let it cook until small sam
that of maple syrup.
When the boiling has finished the
syrup can be set aside to cool in COW
cred vessels or can be poured while
hot into end sealed III can or glass
containers. Where a cider press is
available the melons can be cut into
pieces and arranged on the press SO
that the pressure will extract the juice
of the pulp before it presses the rind
The juice OF the rind is not so rich in
sugar, and experiments with rinG
juice alone indicate that IL is not suit
able for syrup.
If it is desired to make syrup free
torn red PARTICLES, start the syrur
boiling and when some of the coagula-
ted matter has been removed by skim
ming, transfer the juice to the glass
Jars or other tall containers and allow
it to settle and cool for a few hours
This allows the red particles to settle
to the bottom. The upper part of the
Juice can then be poured of and boiled
into syrup.