Recipe: Pickled Watermelon Rinds, Simple Yet Flavorful

Many people have not heard of pickled watermelon rinds, but it's popular in some regions of the American South. I just happened across information and recipes for pickled watermelon rinds and decided to make my own version.

Watermelon is very popular and people just love the sweet, cool taste of watermelons, especially on hot summer days, like right now as I write this article.

None of us eat the inedible hard green rinds around the outside of the watermelon or the white part which is softer than the outside but still a bit harder than the soft red inside. What do we usually do with the white and green parts? We usually throw them away. But, why waste it all when we can use them, at least the white part by pickling them?

I liken the taste of the white part of the watermelon to cucumbers but slightly more bland. Pickling it makes the white part softer and flavorful, making it pretty much just like pickled cucumbers.

I read several recipes and articles about pickled watermelon rinds and they all contain similar spices but some of the processes are different. There are 2 kinds of processes, just like store-bought pickles -- you have the cucumbers that are boiled first to speed up the pickling process and you have the cucumbers that are pickled cold.

As for my first try at pickled watermelon rinds, I didn't want to go through a lot of hassle boiling them. I just wanted to toss them into a container with pickling brine and wait a few days. I found that pickling them cold made the rinds slightly softer and they retained their crispness. Boiling them would speed up the process but probably make them soggy like store-bought pickles which I do not care for.

When making pickled watermelon rinds, it's a good idea to cut them off before serving the watermelon because no one wants to eat watermelon rinds that have been chewed on, right? That is unless you are making it for yourself.

After cutting the rinds off, you should refrigerate them immediately until pickling time. Pickle them within a few days so they don't get too soft or spoil.

As for the pickling spice, you can use individual spices but I prefer to use McCormick Mixed Pickling Spice, Which is a mixture of whole and broken spices, seeds, and herbs including, cinnamon, allspice, mustard seed, coriander, bay leaves, ginger, chilies, cloves, black pepper, mace, cardamom. Every spice you want is present, so you just have to use a few tablespoons and you're done. You can find this product or something similar to it at your local supermarket for under $4, a lot cheaper then if you would buy each of the ingredients separately.

Ingredients

watermelon
1 quart pickling jar
water
vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons pickling spice

Directions

1. Take a sharp knife and slice the watermelon into slices about 1 inch thick. Cut the outside green rind off first and try to keep most of the white part attached to the red part. Finally, cut as much of the white part off of the red part as possible, so that they are long strips.

2. Cut the white strips into 1 or 2 inch pieces. Toss enough of them inside of the pickling jar or container a few inches below the top of the jar to make room for the brine and spices.

3. Pour enough water into the pickling jar to a level about 1 inch below the top of the white watermelon pieces.

4. Pour vinegar into the pickling jar until the white watermelon pieces are covered with liquid.

5. Pour about a teaspoon of salt, 1/4 cup of sugar and about a tablespoon or 2 of pickling spice into the pickling jar.

6. Put the lid on top of the jar and give it a good shake to thoroughly combine all of the spices.

7. Open the jar and taste the brine to see if it is the correct sweetness and tartness that you prefer. It should be a little tart and sweet and definitely not too salty. If it's not, add more vinegar or sugar. The pickling spice will take a while for the flavors to combine with the others, so be careful not too add too much because it will be very strong in a few days.

8. Refrigerate the pickling container and allow the watermelon rind to pickle for a few days before giving it a taste. Depending on the ripeness of the watermelon, the size of the batch and the strength of the brine, the watermelon rind pickles should be ready to eat within a week or, longer, if you want an even stronger flavor.

Make sure you remove all of the pickling spices from the pickled watermelon rinds before serving because some of the pieces are hard and very strong in flavor.