Watermelon Pickles

Watermelon Pickles

From Eloise Morrison Templin via Liz Templin Alley

Rind from one watermelon

Brine: 1 cup salt

           4 quarts water

Per pound of rind:

            1 cup vinegar

            1 cup water

            2 cups sugar

            3 sticks cinnamon

            8 whole cloves

Note: I used the rind from a medium-small watermelon, which came to about 3 ½ pounds when all trimmed and weighed.  This made 4 pints of pickles.

Save rind from sliced watermelon after enjoying the fruit.  (We ate the melon over a couple of days, and kept the rind in the fridge for a day until I started making the pickles.)  Remove thin dark green outer portion of rind, and leave some of the red for color.  Cut into desired sized pieces—I like mine about 1 inch wide and 1 ½ inches long.  Weigh pieces and note total.  Prepare brine, and soak pieces overnight in the brine.

The next day cook rind pieces in that same brine for about 45 minutes.  Drain and rinse in running cold water.

Make syrup of vinegar, water, sugar, and spices using amounts above for poundage of fruit. Boil syrup for a few minutes.  Add the rinsed rind and simmer until the fruit is semi-transparent (45 to 60 minutes).  Place pickles in glass jars (discarding spices), cover with hot syrup, and seal. (I omitted the “sealing” part, put one jar in the fridge for now and froze the rest.)