Cinnamon Watermelon Rind Pickles

Tonight I’m venturing into completely new territory. Not only am I trying a brand new recipe of a dish I’ve never tasted before but I’m also trying a new technique which I’ve never done before.

I am attempting to create pickled watermelon rind. First, I’ve never tasted it, but I’ve heard and read through other blogs that apparently if it’s done right, it’s extremely tasty. I’ve found three, very different recipes, and I choose what honestly just appealed to me the most. The first recipe I found was from About.com and probably is the one I should have tried, but I couldn’t get past the mustard seeds. The second recipe is truly intriguing and I would love to try it some time but I really wanted to try this recipe this weekend and getting ingredients such as pink peppercorns wasn’t exactly convenient. I decided to go with the third recipe because it was easy and was the most detailed on the process.

However, I did deviate from the recipe slightly, and not really on purpose. All the recipes, although they don’t specifically state it, assume you are using red watermelons. Considering all of them said to cut away the pink flesh. Well, I picked up yellow watermelon. Yes, I know the difference and I certainly can read labels but my husband really wanted to try it, so I figured, “hey, what the heck!” So, I’m going with yellow watermelon.

I had to alter the recipe because I had no where near the amount of rinds that it called for, so hopefully I’ll get to fill an entire quart jar.
I’ll post the recipe in its entirety and then post my changes at the end.

Cinnamon Watermelon Rind Pickles
Makes about 4 to 5 (16 oz) pints


You will need:
 16 cups sliced peeled watermelon rind* (about 2 medium)
 1 cup pickling or canning salt
 8 cups cool water, divided
 6 cups granulated sugar
 4 cups white vinegar
 3 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
 4 to 5 (16 oz) pint glass preserving jars with lids and bands


*To prepare watermelon rind, remove dark green peel from watermelon rind and discard. Cut rind into 2- x 1-inch slices.

Directions:
DAY 1
1.) LAYER watermelon rind and salt in a large crock, glass or stainless steel bowl. Add 4 cups of the cool water. Place a large clean inverted plate on top of the rind and weigh down with two or three quart jars filled with water and capped. Cover with plastic wrap or a clean towel and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.

DAY 2
1.) TRANSFER rind to a colander placed over a sink. Drain and rinse in cool running water. Drain and rinse again. Drain thoroughly.

2.) COMBINE rind with remaining 4 cups cool water in a large stainless steel saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and boil gently until rind is fork-tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.

3.) COMBINE sugar, vinegar and cinnamon stick halves in a clean large stainless steel saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Reduce heat and boil gently for 5 minutes, until cinnamon has infused the liquid. Add drained rind and return to a boil. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour, until watermelon is translucent. Discard cinnamon sticks.

4.) PREPARE boiling water canner. Heat jars and lids in simmering water until ready for use. Do not boil. Set bands aside.

5.) PACK hot rind into hot jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Ladle hot pickling liquid into jar to cover rind leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Apply band until fit is fingertip tight.

6.) PROCESS jars in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours. Lid should not flex up and down when center is pressed.

Now, the changes I made:
I used only 6 cups of rinds because I only had a small watermelon. Because of that, I cut everything in half except the water amount to boil the rinds in, as 4 cups didn’t really cover the rinds, so I boiled the rinds in 6 cups of water.
The other change I made was to use 3 cups of vinegar instead of 2 (which would have been cutting the recipe in half) as again, it wasn’t covering all the rinds.


Ok, so I'm about 12 minutes away from actually getting the rinds into jars and packing them in the fridge. I know you can store them in the pantry, but something about watermelon (or rinds for this matter), just doesn't' seem right being eaten at room temperature. So, after the jars cool, I'll put them in the fridge and then when I get around to testing them, I'll be sure to post!