thrifty genius …. Asian Flavored Pickled Watermelon Rind

I’ve been eating a lot of watermelon and sweet corn of late. A lot. It’s what we do in the Midwest when the corn is unbelievably good and the watermelons are huge and juicy and we need to eat as much as we can before they’re gone. While cutting up the latest watermelon to make yet another delicious Vietnamese inspired salad (have you tried it yet?), I looked guiltly at the growing pile of rind destined for the garbage can. Damn, watermelons have a lot of waste. This has always bothered me so I decided to try something. I’ve long been curious about Pickled Watermelon Rind. It is the product of thrifty genius, turning waste into something delicious. Why not give it a try? I probably had the ingredients on hand and I was definitely looking for a distraction to avoid work for another hour. What was there to lose? A pile of produce scraps that was going in the garbage anyway, some vinegar and spices and an hour of my time? Ever hear of procrasti-baking? This was procrasti-pickling. The conditions were ideal.

A staple in the southern states, I’d never tried, much less made, Pickled Watermelon Rind. Wait … once. I’d had it once. A Texas friend had a big BBQ a few summers back and there was a big jar of the stuff on the table. The memories are fuzzy, likely due to an abundance of cold beer on a very hot day, but I seem to recall something very, very sweet and a little soft. I believe I moved quickly onto something else. Could I do it better? Who knows but why not give it a try? Seemed pretty low risk.

So I looked around for a recipe and noticed they were consistently sweet without much variation. Nothing really sparked my interest until I saw a recipe on bonappetit.com that looked promising. The spices had an Eastern bend that appealed to me – star anise, ginger, chili peppers and the optional additional of kaffir lime leaves, which is one of my favorite ingredients and typically found in Thai cuisine. I gathered my ingredients and opted to use some tiny red hot peppers (grandpa’s home) I’d just brought back from my community garden plot. With no frame of reference of how they compared to the called for serrano chile, I sliced a bunch in half and took a gamble. Nothing to lose, right?

The most tedious part of this recipe is prepping the watermelon rind – only the white portion is used – so there’s a lot of trimming involved. For the four cups required, I used the rind from half of a large round seedless watermelon. Then a simple brine is made with the spices, the rind is added to the pot and simmered for a few minutes to soften. I opted to do a refrigerator pickle, i.e. I put them in a container and refrigerated, but I’m sure these could be jarred and water processed for longer, shelf stable storage.

So how’d they taste? Interesting, in a good way. The flavor is great – sweet but with some really nice complexity, much more complex than the usual sweet pickle. The ginger and star anise come through and my peppers were hotter than I had thought – they certainly packed a nice punch. The texture is very much like a cucumber; after two weeks in the fridge they still had a nice crunch. Would they take the place of my favorite garlic refrigerator dill pickles? No, they’re totally different. But they’ll make a very interesting addition to my general pickle repertoire and you just can’t beat feeling pretty great about using up that pile of rind. One step in reducing food waste.

STRESS THERAPY BAKING FACTOR: ZERO HERO. Reducing waste is always a good thing. Turning that waste into something deliciously edible is a win in any situation. I love a good, interesting pickled anything and have done all kinds of things – I’ve pickled tomatoes, I’ve pickled strawberries and now, I’ve pickled rind. And it’s pretty dang good. Rather than be super sweet, as many rind pickles can be, the ginger and star anise and chilies add layers of complex flavors one doesn’t often find in a pickle. I like ’em.

other pickle recipes (I really like pickles): Spicy Garlic Refrigerator Pickles, Pickled Cherry Tomatoes, Quick Zucchini Pickles, Pickled Ramps, Yellow Pickled Cauliflower & Carrots, Pickled Garlic, Pickled Green Strawberries, Pickled Green Cherry Tomatoes, Cucumber Kimchi
Nine years ago: Galette de Gayon – Fig Walnut & Honey Galette, Candied Yellow Tomatoes, Chilled Cavillion Melon Soup, Empanadas -Two Ways, Panzanella, Herbal Infused Simple Syrups, Corn Pudding, Fresh Tomato Pasta, Gazpacho, Buttermilk Pancakes
Eight years ago: Peach Blackberry Cobbler, Ginger Peach Hand Pies, Bacon Waffles, Peach Pandowdy, Peach Sorbetto, Peach Frozen Custard  
Seven years ago: Raspberry Crème Croustilant, Vinegary Cole Slaw, Fresh Tomato Tart, Tomato Confit, Cold Melon Soup, Sweet Corn Soup
Six years ago: Bastille Day Lunch – Figgy BBQ Sauce
Five years ago: Sunday Lunch – Pimento Cheese, Quick Cherry Tomato Pasta Sauce, Bombay Potato Wraps, Apricot Pistachio Frangipane Tart, Apricot Jam, Tomato Chile Jam, Yunnan Pineapple & Tomato Salad, Bloody Mary Vinaigrette
Four years ago: Plum Upside Down Cake, Modern Three Bean Salad, Fresh Mint Limeade, Deep Dish Plum Almond Tart, Gateau Breton (French Butter Cake)
Three years ago: Iced Tisane, Summer Corn & Tomato Salad, Stuffed Round Zucchini, Melon Feta & Prosciutto Salad, Mexican Corn Salad, Taking Advantage of the Last Bits of Summer, Last of the Tomatoes – Fresh Tomato Sauce with Crispy Parmesan Breadcrumbs & Roasted Tomato Vinaigrette, Blackberry Lime Pie, Grilled Zucchini with Garlic Herb Gremolata
Two years ago: Fresh Mango Coconut Tea Cake, Brazilian Coconut Quindim (Coconut Flan), Brazilian Seafood Stew (Moqueca), Caraway Spiced Cottage Cheese, Chicken Wing Friday – Sticky Spicy Sweet Chicken Wings, Borlotti Beans with Italian Sausages and Fennel-Pepper Relish, Fig & Goat Cheese Foccacia
Last year: Roasted Canned Tomatoes, Roasted Peach Sour Cream Ice Cream, Cowboy Beans, Homestyle Creamed Corn, Blueberry Lime Buttermilk Sherbet, Chicken Wing Friday – Tamarind Five Spice Chicken Wings

ASIAN FLAVORED PICKLED WATERMELON RIND – pretty much from this recipe
makes about 1 quart
I have a small kaffir lime tree which makes obtaining the leaves easy but a Thai grocery store will likely have them, possibly in the freezer. I like the aroma they add but I couldn’t say they added a ton of flavor. If you can’t find them, do not fret.

4 cups trimmed watermelon rind in 1″ x ¼” pieces (I used the rind from half a large round watermelon)
1 serrano chile, thinly sliced
1″ piece peeled ginger, thinly sliced
2 whole star anise
4 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
2 kaffir lime leaves (optional)
1 cup sugar
1 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
½ cup water

1. Using a vegetable peeler, remove tough green rind from watermelon; discard.
2. Trim away any bits of pink flesh so you have big pieces of white rind.
3. Slice into 1″ long x ¼” wide pieces. The rind should be about ¼” thick. (You should have about 4 cups.)
4. Bring chile, ginger, star anise, salt, peppercorns, sugar, vinegar, and water to a boil in a large saucepan, stirring to dissolve sugar and salt.
5. Add rind and return to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until just tender, about 5 minutes.
6. Remove from heat and let cool completely, setting a small lid or plate directly on top of rind to keep submerged in brine, if needed.
7. Transfer rind and liquid to an airtight container; cover and chill at least 12 hours.
8. Keeps for at least 1 month, maybe longer. Keep chilled.