Watermelom Pickles w/Q-View Foamheart

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foamheart

Gone but not forgotten. RIP
Original poster
OTBS Member
I am will try and limit it, but tis a long winded tale to tell.

Last weekend we received a HUGE watermelon and was told it was a yellow-meated. Well in South Louisiana watermelons due to the water in the soil don't do good. Further north its ok. Having lived in West Texas I know what a good watermelon is, about a dollar a piece....LOL

Imagine my surprise when I split open this melon to clean, cut, and get it in the reefer and it was as pretty a melon as I have seen. Its heart was huge and it was a perfect picking. OMG its was great! No picture of the melon but.............


I got two of these, my dressing-makin bowls that are the biggest ones in the house and are cut down low riders for the reefer. Old man in West Texas taught me about cutting and cleaning a melon instead of the mess of all the slicing and juice dripping off the melon that too up so much room of the reefer.

I bagged all the rind and put out for the trash man. Then the light comes on over my head, it sometimes flashes neon but that's a only for world changing thoughts.

WATERMELON RIND PICKLES!!!!

I run out and bring my trash back in....ROFLMAO ..... I pull out the bag of rinds (they were clean and in a separate bag), and surveyed the rinds. Sorry forgot the picture but they were as good as the watermelon !!

I cleaned 'em, skinned 'em, chopped 'em, and put them in a brine. No I am not going to smoke 'em. They sat and brined overnight.


This morning, I washed and rinsed, and thought it wise at the time to check and see if I had everything needed to do this. Good..... it was close but I could make it.


I got out some jars, cleaned and sanitized them, checked for lids and bands. I always wondered about those sanitized wraps they used to put on the toilet's in the hotels. You know the big paper band that said "Sanitized for your Protection". Did they think we were gonna eat on the toilet? 

Boil the jars.........


Pare-boil the rind, I don't know why, next time I will skip this step.


While the rinds are in the hot tub, I made the syrup. This stuff was excellent!! Homemade none of that pickling spice stuff.......

After the rinds were pare-boiled and drained and the syrup had cooked about 15 mins. I dumped the rinds back into the syrup and returned it all to a boil until the rinds were translucent.

Hot filled the sanitized jars, and processed for 10 mins.


No old maids, every lid popped!


I had some of that good packing gravy left.... what to do.


I added a bit more sugar and a bit of water, no since losing all that good twang!


What to do....... Well I could use it to sweeten those peaches and nectarines that are about macerated! Spicy Peach Liqueur? Oh yeah......


But first.......for now a big pot of fresh made tea from spring water!


That's it a fresh pot of sweet tea, some spiced simple syrup for the liqueurs, and 5 jars of pickled watermelon rinds. I hope they are good!!

Its that time of the year, and I thank you for looking in on my Wednesday adventure!
 
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Foamy..... Never heard of such a thing..... I'm in for the taste test.....
popcorn.gif
I have had these since a small kid. BUT its my first solo attempt.

Used to be a BBQ restaurant out in West Texas I frequented, their BBQ was only OK. Their killer item was chicken fried steak or fried onion rings!! BUT they always gave you with any order one those little plastic container thingies that condiments  come in with pickled green tomatoes in one and watermelon pickles in the other. It had a lot of square footage, and you had to call ahead at lunch to get in, cause all the peddlars were entertaining customers for lunch there......LOL.

Oh and their blackeye'd pea salad, think some guy from up north Texas called it Texas caviar. But you never know about those yankee cowboys, heck they'd wear feathered hatbands.
 
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Looks interesting Foam & also very tasty ! :drool Never heard of it but I'd give er a go ! :wink: I guess I should say I'd give it a hell of an attempt.... But could not guarantee your results !
 
Looks interesting Foam & also very tasty !
drool.gif
Never heard of it but I'd give er a go !
wink.gif
I guess I should say I'd give it a hell of an attempt.... But could not guarantee your results !
These are some outstanding pickles if I did them right. Well the pare-boiling part sort of worried me 'cause I don't think I remember that being done. Seems they just made the syrup, rinsed off the brine well, and added the rinsed rinds to the syrup and cooked until the rinds turned translucent. But we'll see.  I was worried about the amount to. It takes a gallon of rinds, that's ok, but when brining the gallon becomes closer to 1/2 gal.

Its a learning experience. The main thing is getting a good rind and those don't happen around here often. Watermelon and cantaloupes grown best in the desert without rain. Its wild, they make the sweetest water and the more water they get the worse the melons.

I am having a hard time not breaking a jar open and tasting it. I mean don't they have to wait at least like a month so the syrup can replace the fluids drawn out by the brine?
 
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OK, I had to open one and taste.......... <thumbs Down> Either it brined too long or cooked too long but the rind was more like you'd expect a rind to be had you not had the pickles before.  But.... its a lesson learned, my next time, if I ever find another good melon in Louisiana, will no doubt be a rousing success~!

Going back in again as soon as possible, BUT I gotta tell ya again, that syrup is the bees knees! It would make squash pickles good, and that's saying a lot!
 
My Mammau use to make those. We'd eat them at the end of the summer while we were hand shelling her black eyed pea crop.  Hadn't thought about them in years. ..Or shelling peas either for that matter. 

Thanks Kevin. Very special post. b
 
 
My Mammau use to make those. We'd eat them at the end of the summer while we were hand shelling her black eyed pea crop.  Hadn't thought about them in years. ..Or shelling peas either for that matter. 

Thanks Kevin. Very special post. b
So get  the recipe going. Hope your mama is still here. Lost mine too early. This great.
 
OK, I had to open one and taste.......... <thumbs Down> Either it brined too long or cooked too long but the rind was more like you'd expect a rind to be had you not had the pickles before.  But.... its a lesson learned, my next time, if I ever find another good melon in Louisiana, will no doubt be a rousing success~!

Going back in again as soon as possible, BUT I gotta tell ya again, that syrup is the bees knees! It would make squash pickles good, and that's saying a lot!
So the rines of melon are good brine? Luv sqash pickles. Still got some from last year to finish off. Thanks guys.
 
 
My Mammau use to make those. We'd eat them at the end of the summer while we were hand shelling her black eyed pea crop.  Hadn't thought about them in years. ..Or shelling peas either for that matter. 

Thanks Kevin. Very special post. b
Blackeye'd peas with little snaps! Or Pinto beans (with big snaps LOL)!! Those, water melon and cantaloupes, and chili are about as West Texas as you can get!  They were all grown were there was no grass in the yards, only sand burrs and horny toads.....LOL
I wonder if like all good things they'd get better with age?
LOL.... I know better but I still have not dumped 'em out yet. Got another Melon yesterday, but its only about 1/2 as big. We got about 5 days of heavy rain last week and that ruins watermelons. Oddly the drier it is the better the melons. Hence West Texas deserts are the perfect place.
 
So get  the recipe going. Hope your mama is still here. Lost mine too early. This great.

So the rines of melon are good brine? Luv sqash pickles. Still got some from last year to finish off. Thanks guys.
Watermelon pickles are the best thing imaginable. They are just clear to look thru and super crunchy. I would swap candy any day for watermelon rind pickles.

Probably process this other melon tomorrow earlier than normal and do the pickles before bed. Between pickles, jellies (put up peach jam today), and fruit Liqueur I am going thru some sugar!
 
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