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.
Other Canning
Articles On Our Blog:
In-depth Articles
About How To Can On Our Blog:
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment