Recipe: Pickled Watermelon Rind

Pickled Watermelon RindIn the garden we are regularly left with pounds of food scraps to compost.  So when we discovered pickled watermelon rind our ears perked right up at the idea of another garden snack!  What a great lesson in resourcefulness for all of us!!

Upon looking, it's easy to see that there are many variation of this pickle recipe.  This recipe below is from Whole Foods and is quite tasty!!

 Makes 2 pints

For this recipe, make sure that traces of the pink fruit are gone from the watermelon rind then cut away and discard the green peel, too. What you’re left with are chunks of thick, white rind that definitely don’t deserve to be thrown away. Use this pickle as a condiment on sandwiches or serve as you would a chutney with grilled meats.

 Ingredients

2 cups apple cider vinegar

1 cup water

1/2 cup sugar or honey

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon whole cloves

4 small, dried chiles

4 wide strips lemon peel

1 (1-inch) piece ginger, peeled and thinly sliced

1 1/2 pounds peeled watermelon rind, cut into (1/3-inch) chunks (about 5 cups)

Method

Put vinegar, water, sugar or honey, salt, cloves, chiles, lemon peel and ginger into a medium pot and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Add rind, reduce heat to medium low, cover and simmer until rind is tender and translucent, 8 to 10 minutes.

Spoon contents of pot (with pickling liquid) into glass jars, seal tightly and chill overnight. Serve right away or store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.