The way to make better watermelon juice: leave the juice behind...

It would be overstated that I have been on a quest to make watermelon juice. I think too much of variety of juices is... boring and unnecessary. And I have had the stance: who needs watermelon juice anyway?
But here is the problem - even if watermelon is about the most horrible fruit based beverages you can put into your mouth (never tried it: but I guess that pruno cannot be much worse) guests are still ordering it. And I do think: WTF???

Let’s first of all understand why watermelon isn’t that great:

1. Ripeness: There was a “hack” which said, that you should get round watermelons (as they are apparently female and sweeter than elongated male ones), you should go for a brown and dried stem and not a greenish one (as the melon then was harvested ripe), and that you should use ones with big yellow spots (the watermelon lied in the sun - and the yellow spot supposed to be the place where it lied on the floor in the sun) and it should have some “spiderweb” like scars (I forgot the reason) - I did all of it, and ended up with a watermelon which wasn’t exactly sweet or interesting. Choosing a ripe and sweet watermelon is like walking through a mine field - and one can be good the other wouldn’t. Hence how exactly can you make a sweet beautiful refreshing juice, if the fruits are so inconsistent (and it is tough to test a big fruit like that)?
2. Seeds: This is my main concern: in a centrifugal juicer the seeds are crushed and release a tannic taste/aroma. This doesn’t go well with the light refreshing watermelon character. Usually the fresh bought in juices are failing in this aspect. I tried a slow juicer - but if the watermelon has a lot of seeds, you would have the same outcome (and don’t even try to blend it, which is worse). Oh - I tried to “puree” the watermelon through a food mill. This might have been the most exhausting and disappointing 2 hours of my life (guess what, it is work for a serious offender). You could use a seedless melon, which usually cost about 10 times of a normal watermelon - and doesn’t really make commercially sense...
3. Sweetness: Even a ripe watermelon isn’t usually that sweet. If you eat watermelon, it is quite nice - as you have a crispy texture, and it is (hopefully) cold. Watermelon juice isn’t that interesting though. Again - back to consistent ripeness - you rarely find some really superior watermelons.
4. Sourness: Again - texture is key, if eating watermelon, which is lost, if you make juice. And the lack of sourness makes it not spoil far quicker than lets say citrus juice, it makes it also flabby and uninteresting.

So how to improve watermelon juice? Well - we are leaving the juice behind and will attempt a nectar.

I first of all juiced the watermelon with a slow juicer. It had less seeds, and I tried to avoid as many seeds as possible. I also juiced the light green rind, which gives a bit more assertive freshness (but even less sugar content). 

Then I added organic unbleached cane sugar. I can’t give you measurements, because all melons are different. Now the drink (basically already a nectar) tasted a bit better. But not by much. So I added some citric acid.. you could use lemon or lime - but then your watermelon drink would taste... well like watermelon lemonade or limeade - but I wanted that it taste like watermelon. Citric acid taste sour, but doesn’t have a specific taste. The drink became even better - but it was still a bit on the boring side and it was also a bit pale.

So I made an infusion from hibiscus. This is dark red and colors the drink beautifully. Not only that, it brings more acidity (but a more multileveled acidity) plus a bit of a “mysterious aroma” which turned out to be perfect for watermelon (who knew? I didn’t even consulted foodpairings.com).

After tasting, even I was happy with the result... I could easily drink this watermelon beverage without remorse (and will)... Could it be carbonated - the heck yes - it could. But even like that, it is a damn tasty juice cocktail which is about 100% tastier than “good” ol’ watermelon juice.

You should try it... and thank me later...

Oh - I will try it, with the notable addition of tequila - because why not?

Update:
I tried the watermelon concoction after a couple of hours and it started to taste “tannic” again. It seems that watermelon juice oxidizes and develops this unfavorable aroma. The only way is, making it fresh I guess then...