Pickled Watermelon Rind

I use this recipe all summer long! It works great with other types of melon as well. The one thing I gotta tell people is though, it is a HUGE chore to try and peel the melon. I use a very sharp knife and cut it off, as you actually need to remove a decent amount of the skin, otherwise you get stiff pieces.

• jeri_l

• Brooklyn, NY

• 7/18/2016

One other thing: The combination of the chops, salad, and pickled rind makes the meal. I had leftover chops without the salad and pickled rind and it wasn't nearly as good.

• jbbobbitt

• NorCal

• 7/30/2015

'k, I learned a lot about peeling a watermelon. First, I got a melon about the size of a volley ball. It produced about 12 cups of rind, so I tripled the recipe. Like the previous poster I cut the poles off, then sliced it in half the long way. Then I proceeded to break 3 potato peelers without making any headway. I finally went and got a "Y-peeler" from a kitchen store ($3.89). Made by Swissmar. It worked incredibly well, I had the whole melon peeled in 5 minutes. I found the star anise a little too strong, will use less next time.

• jbbobbitt

• NorCal

• 7/27/2015

This was easier than I expected. I cut the pole ends off the melon for stability before attacking it with my vegetable peeler, and the dark green rind came off easily. It took 15 minutes, not five, of simmering before the rind became tender. Also, if I do this again, I'll tie the pickling spices in a piece of cheesecloth. As it was, it was a bit of a pain picking off the peppercorns, etc., from the finished rind before adding it to the arugula salad to go with the pork chops. The end product was worth the effort though, as it added a zing to the overall recipe.

• Anonymous

• nowhere in particular

• 8/10/2014