There were Amish guys who had set up a fruit/veggie stand on the weekends just a bit from the hotel parking lot. The first weekend I was there, I bought peaches, tomatoes and two small watermelons. Everything was great. Chad said “I don’t usually like watermelon but this is delicious”. It was probably the best watermelon I’ve had in several years. The peaches were amazing and, as always, their tomatoes tasted like homegrown, which they are!
The second weekend I was there, I bought two small watermelons to bring home. Yesterday we cut one and decided to make watermelon rind pickles.
I trimmed the hard green part away and left some of the red “meat” on the rind. Most of the red meat will dissolve away but it gives flavor to the pickling liquid.
From the one small watermelon, the yield was six pints. I canned (waterbath) five pints and will stick the 6th pint in the fridge for us to eat.
There was some canning liquid left, and we had some jujubes that Vince picked yesterday so I decided to simmer those for a few minutes in the pickling liquid, and can those and see what they end up tasting like.
We used to love my grandma’s spiced peaches and pickled apple rings so . . why not try pickling the jujubes. I had 8 or 10 jujubes that wouldn’t fit in the jar so I put those in a small jar and will stick them in the fridge. In a couple of days, we’ll try those and if we like them (taste/texture), we can pick more and pickle them.
This is the recipe I used for the watermelon rind pickles.
vivoaks says
I LOVE watermelon pickles. Every recipe I’ve seen it tells you to take off all the pink, so only white is left. My problem now is that there are only two of us in the house, and we just don’t go through a watermelon quickly enough to keep the rind from spoiling before I get enough to pickle. Hubby won’t eat them anyway, so I don’t want to make a whole bunch. Love them, but don’t need 6 jars of them. 🙂
Judy Laquidara says
The recipe I use says to leave a “thin layer of pink” on the rind. What I do is cut the watermelon, remove it all from the rind, put that in a zipper bag and keep it in the fridge. We just fill our bowls from the bag. That gives me the rind to make preserves with right off the bat. I waterbathed those jars so they’ll be good for at least a year – probably way longer. We don’t eat as many on the diet but when we’re not on the diet, we would go through a pint every other week for sure.
Lee says
I remember as a young child liking my grandmother’s watermelon rind pickles. I’d bet it’s probably been nearly 60 years since I’ve tasted them. I want to say she left the hard outer rind on, but I could be mistaken given how long ago it was. Hmm, I wonder if my aunt has her recipe for comparison. Thanks for triggering a memory 🙂
Judy Laquidara says
A lot of people do but I don’t like that left on. The recipe I use says to peel it off so I’m happy to do that.
Joyce says
I’ve never had watermelon rind pickles, but my mother used to make watermelon rind jam. Yum! I’ve had a couple of watermelons this summer that haven’t tasted very good. I think I’ve lost my touch on picking out good melons. 🙁
Judy Laquidara says
Every one we’ve bought has been close to awful but these from the Amish were so good!
Wanda Jordan says
To get a good watermelon look for a big yellow dot on bottom. Even better if it has a few brown veins showing on yellow spot.
Connie Robison says
This is so funny. I was talking to my daughter in law about Watermelon Rind Pickles on Tuesday and then here you are today. Guess the universe is telling me it’s time to make some
Nelle Coursey says
I have never tried those but they sound interesting!
Stephani in N. TX says
Watermelon rind pickles make me think of Rumaki – watermelon pickles with a water chestnut, wrapped in bacon and roasted on a cookie sheet. Yum.