preserved watermelon
(from A Collection of Tried Receipts, Both Foreign and Domestic by Chadwick, J., 1853)
Ingredients:
Instructions:
(from A Collection of Tried Receipts, Both Foreign and Domestic by Chadwick, J., 1853)
Ingredients:
watermelon
salt
water
after soaking... 1 lb. of sugar per lb. of watermelon
ginger or lemon-peel
Instructions:
Pare the melon and take out the inside. Soak in salt and water three days changing each day. Then scald in pure water. Drain it perfectly dry. Allow one pound of sugar to one pound of watermelon. Make a syrup of the sugar, and flavor with ginger or lemon-peel.
While on vacation in southern Pennsylvania last week I stumbled on something I wasn't familiar with - preserved watermelon rind (also called pickled watermelon rind). The local farmers market I visited had a few varieties, so bought the smallest jar the 'original' flavor. While I was sort of skeptical about eating the rind as it's something I never dreamed of eating before, but I was surprised by the great cinnamon flavor coupled with a slight tangy taste as well.
When I got home I did a little digging about pickled/preserved watermelon and found its been around for well over a 150 years. Seems our ancestors were always of a waste-not-want-not kind of people!
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