Pickled watermelon rind

This delicious pickled watermelon rind is made with a simple fermentation process that's super healthy for you and fills your watermelon rind with healthy microbes and probiotics! The best part is that this recipe virtually costs you nothing since it's made from a part of the watermelon that most of us will normally throw away! It's surprising that the rind can be so tasty (and good for you)! Enjoy :)




Ingredients:

Chopped up watermelon rind (the "white" part of the watermelon between the sweet red inside and the green outer layer--- scrape off the green part but feel free to leave some of the red/pink for sweetness. Some people also leave part of the green outside for an extra crunch, but only do this if you know the watermelon was not sprayed with pesticides)

sea salt

filtered water

optional add-ins: dill, garlic, cinnamon, maple syrup


Directions:

Once your watermelon rind is chopped up, stuff it into a mason jar. The rough measurement for to make brine for watermelon rinds and pickle type veggies is about 3/4 cup of salt per gallon. If you're a quart sized jar, you'll want to use about 2 tablespoons or so of salt. Pour the salt directly into the jar with the rind, and any add-ins of your choice. Dill and/or garlic go well together, and cinnamon and/or syrup work together for a sweet version. Either add-ins you choose you still must add salt to make the brine.

Fill the jar completely with filtered water to the very top. Put on a lid and shake well to incorporate and mix your salt and ingredients into the brine.

Sit on your countertop or a dark place for 1-4 days. Check on daily to top off the brine with fresh filtered water as needed so all the watermelon is completely submerged, and feel free to taste test so you can determine when it's done. The watermelon should taste like a pickle (unless you used the sweet ingredients) and be slightly sour. How sour you make it is up to you. Once you like the taste, slow the process by sticking in the fridge where it'll keep good for a several weeks. Remember to taste test often, as once it's fermented too much (tastes too tangy/sour or gets really soft) you cannot reverse the process. You can also experiment with adjusting the amount of salt and adjusting the fermenting time... temperature, amount of light, and other factors come into play to affect the timing and flavor of your ferment so the best thing you can do is keep experimenting and taste testing throughout the process. Enjoy!



If you love this recipe and want to learn to ferment more veggies, check out my fermenting workshop blog post.