Reserve The Rind

The project started, as so many do, as a solution to a problem. A watermelon from my local Aldi had a very thick white rind. Rather than lose all that rind to the compost pile I decided to see if I could cook with it.

Lots of waste here!

It's not the first time I've dabbled with using the rind of watermelons. Ten years ago I used it to make sweet watermelon pickles, but I wasn't in the mood for sweet pickles. The Internet was full of recipes for pickles (both savory and sweet) and distant fermented cousins like kimchi. I found directions for candies, preserves, chutney, stir fries, and curries. There were many unique recipe at watermelon.org.  SO many choices!

No matter which direction my preparation took me, the first step was to cut green peel from the rind. When I was done there was almost two and a half pounds of rind. I put it into the refrigerator while I figured out what to do with it.

In the end I turned the rind into a simple side dish, marinating it in a brine made with white vinegar, water, salt, sugar, pressed garlic, and some mustard seeds. To hurry the process along I brought the brine to a boil, then poured it over the chunked watermelon rind, half of a large red onion chopped into small pieces, and a handful of chopped cilantro. It marinated for a couple of hours before I served it with enchiladas.

Yummy!Tony re

Hubby Tony and I had large servings of the marinated rind, which reminded me somewhat of the sweet and sour cucumbers his mom used to make. When Son Donald stopped by to pick up some papers I sent some home with him. The next day I chopped some up and included it in a cold salad of black beans and cabbage (lightly blanched in the brine).

There was less flesh on the inspiration watermelon, and I froze much of it, so last night when we were at a farmer's market shop Tony requested I buy some more for him to eat fresh. After dinner tonight he cut it up for himself and asked if I wanted to keep the rind. My answer was 'yes'. There's still a lot of good-sounding recipes to try.

Five years ago today: Stop The Itching?