A farmer from the coastal region of Khulna has become quite popular among his peers for introducing an unusual twist to the traditional molasses recipes that we all know of and love.
Breaking away from the conventional way of making the classic molasses, Mrityunjay Mandal in Dumuria upazila started incorporating watermelons into the age-old recipes, which previously only used date palms, sugarcane, and palmyra palm extracts.
Farmer Mrityunjay said: “I have been cultivating watermelons for a long time. Every year, we come across some deformed watermelons that remain unsold. These unwanted watermelons are usually used as cattle fodder or are left in the fields to rot.”
“In order to reduce this wastage, I decided to make molasses with watermelon as its juice contained sugar content similar to that of date palm or sugarcane extracts,” he added.
Seeing the demand for watermelon molasses, officials concerned have now begun to believe this foreign recipe could just be the answer that they were looking for to revive the dying industry.
Dumuria Agriculture Officer Mosaddek Hossain said the country’s molasses industry had been shrinking by the day with palm and date palm trees dwindling in number.
“Molasses production from watermelons will open up new avenues for an alternative source of income for marginalized farmers in the country’s coastal regions and play a significant role in reducing crop wastage from unsold watermelons,” he added.
Mrityunjay said he had thus far produced 10-12kg of molasses, some of which he has distributed among the local agriculture officers and his neighbours.
He also sold some molasses for Tk300 per kg, he said, adding that this was how he had noticed the high demand for this product.
To make watermelon molasses one has to first remove the green rind of the fruit. Then the red flesh of the watermelon is mashed through a colander and strained into pots. The juice is then boiled to concentrate it, promoting sugar crystallization, until the liquid is reduced to a molasses-like consistency.
Molasses made from watermelons are very tasty and have a long shelf life.