So I have this issue with throwing away food. I always want to find a way to use up my scraps, either in another recipe or in my compost bin. This summer my husband and kids decided to go on a watermelon binge and I had rinds coming out of my ears. I had heard of watermelon rind pickles, but never actually tasted one. Fermenting foods is one of my favorite “cooking” methods, so I decided to give these a go.

When looking around online I came across a spiced recipe, I changed it up a bit here. I also wanted to make a traditional pickle flavor, in case my kids didn’t like the clove flavor. They are both delicious!

Fermented Watermelon Rind Pickles

Ingredients for basic brine:

• 1 medium organic watermelon
• 6 cups water
• 3 Tbsp sea salt — where to find

For the dill pickle rinds, add the following to the jars:

• 6 garlic cloves
• 2 Tbsp mustard seeds
• 1 large dill sprig or 1 tsp dried dill

For the sweet and spicy rinds, add the following to the jars:

• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2 tsp whole cloves

Directions:

• Slice watermelon, removing the pink flesh to eat. I place a cutting board inside of a cookie sheet so the juice does not run all over
• Trim green outer layer off of the rind and discard

• Chop peeled rind into 1″ pieces, making them as evenly shaped as possible

• Place the chopped rind into a clean half gallon glass jar — like these

• I filled two half gallon glass jars with the rind from one medium water melon
• Heat the water until boiling
• Add in salt and stir until dissolved (note, my water looks “dirty” in this pic because I use real salt and it has minerals and other goodies in it that look a little different than the traditional white table salt).

• Add in your flavorings of choice to the jar

• Pour brine over watermelon rind in jars, until the neck of the jar (do not overfill). I use a funnel to do this

• Place your airlock lid onto the jars, because the airlock system is seriously the easiest way to go! — where to find

• Cover the jars with a dark towel and place in a moderate temperature area, the warmer it is the faster they ferment. Keep it covered so the fermentation is not affected by sunlight

• Allow to ferment 3-5 days, you can taste them after three to see if you like the flavor. The longer they ferment, the more sour they will taste
• Place a plastic lid on the jar (metal will rust) and put the pickles in the fridge. They will last quite a while in the fridge, we have not had a batch go bad yet!
• Makes two half gallon jars of watermelon pickles

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