And on a happier note- The wonder of watermelon
Sorry, couldn't think of a better title, but this post is indeed about watermelon.
It's juicy and red, cool and refreshing, it really is wonderful. Only problem is that half its weight is comprised of that light-green rind that no one eats.
And why shouldn't we eat it? Sure, it's not as sweet as the red pith, but it's still edible. I did pay for it after all, so why should I throw it away, waste money and increase the world garbage disposal problem?
So what can you do with the rind?
- You can eat it like a cucumber. It's sweeter and crunchier than a cucumber, and it works great on its own or in a salad or sandwich. You have to peel it of course; the dark green peel is too tough to eat raw.
- You can cook with it, instead of using a zucchini. The flavor of cooked watermelon is milder than zucchini, but it's essentially the same flavor. The major difference is that the watermelon rind holds its shape when cooked, where the zucchini becomes mushy. Again, it’s best to peel of the dark green peel.
- You can pickle it, along with the dark green peel. Any way you like it, sweet or savory, in salt or in vinegar, watermelon rind pickles are tasty and pretty. The dark green peel softens but still adds a very nice crunch.
- You can make a pie out of it. I tried it and it turned out pretty damn good.
- You could make a watermelon bread, same way you would make zucchini bread. I found some recipes but I haven't tried them yet. They seemed pretty straight forward.
- Or you could make candies and preserves, like you would with orange peels. Basically, cut the rind into bite size chunks and boil them for 5-10min. until they become transparent. Drain the rind.
Make a sugar syrup and add the boiled rind and some vanilla essence or other spices, such as ginger. Let it boil again until you reach your preferred thickness, add some lemon juice or vinegar and then jar it.
I like to leave it very thin and dilute it with water to make watermelon-vanilla flavored water, but traditionally (in Rumanian and Greek tradition anyway) it is made relatively thick, like any other jam. The tradition is that you serve your guests a glass of cold water and a small dish with the jam, so they can sweeten their water as they please. This is considered good hospitality and the Romanian term for a hostess that does such things is "Gospodina". A gospodina is also supposed to wash the dishes and clean the house and everything else, so I don't qualify.
The original recipe for this jam said to cut the rind into strips and then twist it into snails, to make it more attractive, but it looked too complicate so I just cut the rind into cubes.
If you have too much time on your hands, and bored children on summer vacation, here is the original recipe, as I translate it from the Romanian cook book Sanda Marin: (this is a great effort for me, I'm not good at reading Romanian, so I hope you appreciate it)
Ingredients:
1 medium watermelon
1kg sugar
3 cups water
Juice of half a lemon
1 tsp vanilla essence
What to do:
- Cut the watermelon in half and clear out the red center. Cut the rind in to thin strips, roll them in to snails and sew them with a strong piece of string, so they wouldn't open on cooking. Do this until you fill a deep soup plate (notes: it doesn't say whether or not to remove the dark green peel. I did remove it, but because of the following step, I think you don't have to. About the soup plate- these are very old recipes and I have no idea how deep the soup plate is. I just cut up half a large watermelon and it went fine).
- Bring a pot of water to a boil and place the rind-snails in it. Let it come to a boil again and cook the rind for 5min. Replace the water and boil again for 5 more min. Drain the rind.
- Now place the sugar and 3 cups of water in a pot, and cook until it reaches a jam-like consistency. Only then add in the rind and cook again for 5-10 minutes, to let the rind absorb the sugar and vice versa. At this point you also add the vanilla and lemon juice.
- When done, remove the rind-snails from the syrup and let them cool enough for you to handle. Remove the string that binds the snails and return them to the syrup. Place in a clean jar and serve with a tall glass of cold water.