Making Citron Preserves

When we were home last weekend, Cordy gave me a melon from their garden - he insisted it was a citron. I suspected it was a watermelon....sure looks like a watermelon to me!!!

But, alas, the gardener knew his crop! It was a citron. I've never had one before - it is very hard to cut.
Granny told me how to make preserves.....just peel and seed the melon, cut into cubes....
And add LOTS of sugar.
Stir it and let it sit (she said overnight - I let it sit about 5 hours). It went from dry fruit to sloppy and syrup-y. The fruit was still hard.
I put it on to boil....
For hours!!!
It eventually turned a soft, translucent color. The sugar/lemon syrup was nice and thick.

Easy as pie!! (I don't think citron pie would be too good....) The preserves are quite good (I kept the little pitcher in the foreground for use tonight.) The fruit is not anything like the biter chunks we all hate in fruitcake. It's a sweet, mellow, slightly melon-y flavor. That was fun!!!