Saturday, July 9, 2016

Watermelon Rind Pickles



Well the 4th of July holiday has come and gone, and guess what watermelon was on sale. As we were unable to get together for the holiday weekend we bought a couple of seedless watermelon's and threw them in the fridge for a few days as some of our family was coming this weekend. I confess, we do not buy watermelon often, and I was out of watermelon pickles so I decided to kill two birds with one stone so to speak and make watermelon pickles.

I will say this, of all the pickle type recipes, this one probably has the most prep, but the sweet, candied fruit pickles that you get from the rind that most people simply throw away is quite delicious. Now I won't claim that this is an old southern recipe as my grandmother used to make them on the farm in Missouri and her's were simply heaven. Having said that, this is not her recipe, I wish it was, but to be honest my father's mother never taught me anything about canning. It's a shame really as they canned just about anything you could think of back on the old home place, and she was quite good at it.

Anyway, I was left to try and develop my own version of this old fashioned family favorite. After trying several different variations, I took components from several recipes and fine tuned it to meet my specific needs. I must say that I am quite happy this watermelon pickle recipe. I generally make two small batches some with the red hot candies (which both my wife and I like) and some without. If you have never made watermelon pickles before, I hope you will give this recipe a try, I am sure you will enjoy it.

The Recipe (Yield 14 pints)

Rind from two medium to large sized watermelons
9 cups of granulated sugar
4 quarts of water
4 quarts vinegar (5% acidity)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon whole cloves
1 3-inch piece of cinnamon
1 (5.5 ounce) bag of Red Hots cinnamon flavored candy (optional)

Make the brine and set in the refrigerator (see recipe below)

Remove the meat of the watermelon and place in plastic bowls for eating later. Make sure you remove as much of the meat as possible, however you do not have to scrape the rind down to the white part, some red is all right. Then slice the watermelon rind into 1-inch strips and peel the skin off with a potato peeler or small paring knife.

Once you have the watermelon rind peeled, cut into 1-inch cubes, or you could leave it as spears, but personally I think the cubes work best. Once you have all the rind cubed add it to the stockpot with the brine and then cover the top of the rind with ice (about 2 quarts) and place in the refrigerator for 4 hours.



After 4 hours or when you are ready (not longer than 12 hours). Combine the 4 quarts of vinegar and water along with the 9 cups of sugar and the lemon juice in a large stockpot and place it on high heat. While the syrup mixture is heating combine the cloves, and cinnamon in a small piece of cheesecloth to make a spice bag (sachet) and add it to the stockpot with the syrup solution. Bring the syrup to a boil and cook for ten minutes. Then reduce the heat just to simmer to keep the syrup warm. Remove the spice bag at this time, or if you like a stronger cinnamon clove flavor leave it in. At this time it is also a good idea to fill your water bath canner with water and get it heating. You do not what to waiting on a cold water bath canner once you rind is ready to be canned.

Remove the watermelon rind from the refrigerator and drain and rinse the thoroughly. Then after rinsing your stockpot, place the rinds back in the stockpot and cover with water and bring to a boil and cook for about 8 to 10 minutes. At this point the rind will be fork tender and just beginning to turn transparent. I personally like my rind to be just beginning to turn transparent when I remove it from the heat and start canning it as it will continue to cook from the residual heat of the water in the stockpot. Many recipes however tell you to cook the rind until it is totally transparent, but remember it will continue to cook some in the water bath canner so do not overcook the rind.



While the rind is cooking take your clean jars and add 3 cloves to each jar and 8 red hot cinnamon flavored candies (if your are using them) to each jar. Don't forget to heat your lids and bands and have them ready so that you can put the rind in the jars as soon as it is cooked. When the rind is ready fill your pint jars with the cooked rind and ladle the hot syrup into the jars leaving ½-inch of headspace. Remove any bubbles, adjust the two-piece lids and process in your 10 minutes in your boiling water bath canner.


The Brine

3 Quarts of water
¾ cup of salt

Combine 3 quarts of water and ¾ cup of salt in a large stockpot and stir until dissolved and place in the refrigerator to cool. You can make the brine overnight and allow to cool if you wish.




Conclusion

Of all the fruit pickle recipes, watermelon rind pickles are my favorite. It still amazes me that something like the rind of a watermelon when made into a fruit pickle using this recipe has the texture similar to that of canned apples or pears. In fact my first memory of eating these pickles in my grandmother's kitchen was that of eating canned apples. For just a little of your time and some basic ingredients that just about everyone has in their pantry you can make a delicious old fashioned fruit pickle recipe that is enjoyed by all generations. As always, if you have enjoyed this article, please share it with your friends and don't forget to send us a friend request on Facebook and Google+ so that you will not miss out on any of our new articles.




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References:

Ball Blue Book Guide To Preserving (2011)

USDA Complete Guide To Home Canning, Guide 06: Preparing and Canning Fermented Food and Pickles. Revised 2015.

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