Watermelon Caramels (That Don't Taste Like Watermelon)

Base Recipe

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup water

Watermelon Syrup

• 1 cup watermelon juice
• 1/4 cup sugar

Topping

• Black sesame seeds
• Maldon salt, slightly crushed into smaller pieces

To Make the Caramels

Line an 8" x 8" square pan with lightly greased parchment paper.

1. Boil the watermelon juice and 1/4 cup sugar together and reduce this mixture until you have approximately 1/4 cup of liquid. This is the watermelon syrup. 
2. Combine the heavy cream, unsalted butter, and salt in a small pot. Heat this mixture until the butter has melted. Turn off the heat and set the cream mixture aside.
3. In a three to four-quart pot boil together the sugar, corn syrup, water, and watermelon syrup.
4. Stir this mixture until the sugar dissolves.
5. Continue boiling the mixture, but do not stir it. Tilt the pot in a circular motion to swirl the sugar mixture around. 
6. When the mixture turns a dark amber color, lower the heat and slowly pour the cream mixture into the pot. 
7. Stir the caramel occasionally until it reaches 240 degrees Fahrenheit. 
8. Stir the caramel frequently until it reaches 248 degrees Fahrenheit. 
9. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Do not scrape the sides of the pan and try to add all the caramel in the pot to the prepared pan. 
10. Sprinkle the black sesame seeds and some Maldon salt evenly over the caramel. 
11. Cool caramel at room temperature until it is firm.
12. Cut caramels into squares and wrap them in wax paper. 

Recipe yields approximately 1 lb. and 2 oz. or caramels (wrapped)

Trying to determine if the watermelon may taste better with toasted or untoasted sesame seeds and also with salt or without salt. I don't like watermelon so I disliked all of these pieces. I ended up using untoasted sesame seeds and some Maldon salt on the caramels. The sesame seeds are supposed to look like watermelon seeds on top of the caramels -- they don't actually add any flavor to the candy.

Used a small watermelon

Watermelon has a lot more pulp than I thought. Using a sieve is not efficient because some pulp still falls through the holes in the sieve and it is difficult to separate the juice.

Tried to use to use a rice-washing bowl lined with a coffee filter instead

Gave up on the rice-washing bowl with coffee filter because it ended up being just as inefficient. A sieve lined with a coffee filter works better, but at this point I was beginning to think that this experiment is more trouble than it is worth.

At this point I decided to add 1/4 of sugar to the watermelon juice to try to aid with creating a syrup.

I tried to reduce the watermelon juice on its own but I quickly realized that watermelon is mostly...water.

The syrup is bubbling and coming together. The kitchen smelled like awfully like cooked melon and I realized that the caramels would not end up tasting like watermelon at all.

These caramels turned out the way I wanted them to look! I wish I knew of a way that I could easily cut the caramels into triangle shapes and wrap them differently.

Unfortunately the caramels did not taste like watermelon. They tasted like overly-sweet, slightly fruity caramels. I had neglected to add enough salt because I didn't want to overpower the taste of the watermelon. This is definitely not the best flavor idea I have come up with and I don't believe I will attempt to make these ever again.