How to Make Tutti Frutti with Watermelon | No Artificial Colors

Tutti Frutti with watermelon made using natural colours, without any refined sugar and using watermelon is a healthy and economical treat.

You will just fall in love with this healthy and guilt-free Tutti Frutti. It tastes great without any taste of watermelon or of any natural colour.

Look at the picture below, all these are natural colours using veggies.

Caution: Make at your own risk. These taste so good that mine got reduced to half as everyone just popped up one or two while these were drying!

 

Healthy Tutti Frutti

Colourful Tutti Frutti adds life to any dessert be it taste or looks. This method of making Tutti Frutti is really easy and once you will make it you will definitely not feel like buying from the market.

Watermelon is eaten in every home and its rind goes into the bin. Today, we will be making Tooti Frutti with this waste part only. I do make Kanji (fermented water) with this white rind and now these candied fruits. With this recipe, I am sure watermelon consumption is going to rake up in your family.

 

Tutti Frutti At My Place

Tooti Frutti is my favourite. Be it simple Tutti Frutti ice cream or biscuits or a healthy fruit cake, I just love it. It is also a favourite as it is the main ingredient in my Fruit cake which is one of my popular recipes and is liked by all age groups.

Till now, I have been buying Tooti Frutti from the market only and there have been times when I deferred making fruit cake in the absence of this colourful beauty. Though the cake tastes good with dry fruits too but the look it gets with Tooty Fruity is matchless.

During the on-going lockdown, when my husband came to know that I would be making Tutti Frutti with the watermelon rind, he didn't believe it and had apprehensions about its good outcome. But finally, when he got to eat it, he just couldn't believe it, was awed by its taste and just said one word, it's magical! And this made my day!

It was much better than store-bought one as it was less sweet and not sticky too.

 

What Is Tutti Frutti?

Tutti Fruitti is nothing but candied fruits which are available in various colours like red, yellow, green, orange etc. and is mainly used for cake decoration and in ice creams. Do you like Tutti Fruitti ice cream?

 

Benefits of Making Tutti Frutti At Home

Tutti Frutti is easily available and in various colours too. Then what is the need to make it at home? You will understand its answer best when you make it yourself or taste homemade Tutti Frutti, the way I have now.

• Store-bought Tutti Frutti is loaded with sugar, they are like sugar candies only. When making at home, you can not only control the quantity of sugar but also use healthy alternatives. Like, I used Boora sugar in this recipe.
• They are coloured! And you are not sure as to what type of colours are used. Though I have not used any artificial colours in this recipe but even if you do, you will be using the best quality, chemical-free colours. But when store-bought, you are just not sure of anything!

 

Why Make Tutti Frutti With Watermelon Rind?

Tutti Frutti is ideally made using raw papaya. Just visualize raw papaya and watermelon white rind. Don't they look the same?

Though both raw papaya and watermelon rind are very nutritious but the former has a slightly bitter taste and thus needs to be boiled first to get rid of that bitterness. Whereas watermelon rind is tasteless and can be used as we like.

Tutti Fruttimakes from watermelon rind, no doubt, tastes good but the fact that you are making best out of waste is what gives you immense happiness. Why waste anything, be it peels only if we can use them in some way or the other. Agreed, that every peel/rind cannot be used but whatever can be, should be.

Some of my other recipes where I have used vegetable peels are:

• Amazing uses of lemon peels. 
• Orange peels in Orange cake thus avoiding the need for any artificial essence.
• Coriander and spinach stalks make the worlds best lemon coriander soup and Spinach soup respectively.

 

Making Tutti Frutti At Home A Lengthy Process

When you make tutti Fruiti at home then though it is an easy process but it does require up to 2 days. Though actual time used is not much but drying time is a lot. In addition, chopping watermelon white rind into small pieces is also a laborious process. Thereafter, making beet and spinach puree and similarly, some other steps make it a lengthy process. But, whether you are making Tutti Fruitti with raw papaya or watermelon, it is a lengthy process, so be prepared!

 

Brownie Points Of My Homemade Tutti Frutti

No Artificial colours used. Made with only natural colours.

No Refined Sugar is used.

Very moderately sweet unlike store-bought sugar-loaded Tutti Frutti

Best Out Of Waste, as made with watermelon rind.

Tastes Great!

Not sticky like the storebought ones.

 

Tips for How to Make Tutti Frutti At Home

• Do not chop very small pieces. After boiling and then drying the pieces shrink in size and thus if chopped in very small pieces, they become even smaller after they are ready as Tutti Frutti. I did this mistake, as chopped some of them very small. So, a lesson learnt and thus bringing it to your notice.
• After adding colour, dry them on a kitchen towel or some other cloth. But avoid paper napkins as these may stick there and it becomes difficult to remove.
• When drying on a towel, toss them off and on to avoid sticking there (though can be removed easily)
• Dry them completely else the moisture in them will spoil these.
• The quantity reduces to almost one third after drying. Like I started with 3 cups of chopped pieces and finally got less than 1 cup of it.
• The green colour of spinach is seen fully when dried completely. Otherwise while making and till a few hours later too, it looks very pale and light green colour. So, have patience!
• They taste good only when completely dried, otherwise, you will feel the taste of turmeric, spinach etc which is not up to the mark. So, again have patience!

 

How to make Beetroot puree?

Put peeled and chopped beetroot in the grinder along with very little water. Grind it and then pass it through a strainer. Beet juice is ready.

How to make spinach puree?

Similarly, grind washed and roughly chopped spinach and strain it. Avoid adding water unless very necessary.

Related recipes:

• Homemade Condensed Milk
• Homemade Mawa
• Honey Roasted Almonds

 

Step By Step Recipe

• Chop the white part of watermelon rind into small pieces.
• Boil these in water for 10 minutes. Avoid using more water as we will be making sugar syrup using this water only. For 3 cups of Tutti Frutti, I used just one and a quarter cup of water. This is just for an idea that use as little water as possible.

• Once pieces have softened up a little, add Boora sugar and continue cooking for another 10 minutes till the pieces turn translucent.

• Turn off the flame and divide these into 2 or 3 bowls depending upon how many colours you want to make it.
• Put 1 or 2 teaspoons of beet puree in one, spinach puree in the second and 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder in the third bowl.

• Cover it and let it remain like this for 6 hours or overnight so that sweetness and colours are absorbed fully.
• Put these in the strainer to get rid of excess water.

• Dry these on a kitchen towel under the fan.

• Once completely dry, fill these in airtight containers and better to keep them in the refrigerator.
• Use as required.

 

FAQs

Q) After boiling watermelon rind, should we change water for making sugar syrup?

No!. After about 10 minutes of boiling, instead of rinsing and taking freshwater to make sugar syrup, we use the same water only. This is because, unlike raw papaya, watermelon rind is sweet and the water in which these are boiled is perfect to be used for making sugar syrup.

(Measurements are just to give you an idea. This post is more about the method rather than the recipe, so use any quantity as you may like)

 

Q) What is Boora Sugar? What can I replace it with?

Boora sugar is powdered cane sugar (a type of unrefined sugar in powdered form) and is not just powdered sugar as many people think it to be. If you can't get Boora sugar then use any other type of sugar or maybe stevia. Avoid brown sugar as it will affect the colour of Tooti Fruiti.

Q) Why can't we add sugar in the beginning only while boiling the rind?

• If you are wondering as to why not add sugar at the beginning only so this is because sugar hampers the cooking process and,
• If cooked for so long then it will thicken up too much and may turn into a 4 or 5 thread consistency sugar syrup

 

Lets Connect!

I hope you have liked this recipe of Tutti Frutti with watermelon and will surely try it out for your loved ones. When you try it out then do share it on Instagram and tag me too using #samirasrecipediary

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