Drying
The drying of watermelon seed must commence as soon as the extraction is completed.
Large rotary driers are used by specialist watermelon seed producers,
especially for the preliminary drying period.
The control of air temperature is not very accurate with rotary driers and many seed producers prefer the batch driers with a rotary paddle The initial air temperature for drying is usually
38–41 °C and as the pieces of fruit and rind debris dry off , the temperature is reduced to
32–35 ° C.
The drying is continued until the seed moisture content does not exceed 10%. They are dried to a moisture content of 6% for vapour-proof storage.