Pickled Watermelon Rinds

Lauren, who is my All Things Pioneer child, wanted to make pickled watermelon rinds. I had never had them myself, but figured why not give it a try. Even if it came out horrible, at least we had fun trying, and it was a learning adventure for us.

The process, while a bit long, was surprisingly easy and rather fun. First you eat a watermelon. That is the really easy and fun part! I let the girls go hog wild and eat as much as they wanted in one sitting. ^burp^ Then I cut the green skin off and most of the pink flesh, and cut the remaining rinds parts into 1x2 inch strips. These we soaked in salty water overnight.

The next morning I drained the salty mixture, and replaced fresh water in the pot, and boiled the rinds for awhile in the fresh water. Meanwhile we boiled up a mixture of water, cider vinegar, and spices (it reminds me of gherkin pickles) to pour over our rinds later.

Once the boiled rinds cooled off, and the pickling mixture cooled of, we poured the liquid into the rind pot and let that sit overnight. There was not much work in this project, just a lot of "sitting" steps that you have to remember. However when you have this huge pot of stuff in your fridge, it is awfully hard to forget about it!

The last day you boil the rinds for an hour in their pickling juice, and then ladle it into canning jars for processing. We had enough for 7 jars (1/2 quart each) of rinds. The end result is sweet, but still tangy. They really do remind me of gherkin pickles. The girls think they are OK. I like one every now and then for a little somethin' sweet.