Watermelon Rind Pickles 2

After creating Watermelon Jam, I didn’t want to waste the rind so I made Watermelon Rind Pickles. In the past few weeks I’ve made White Grape Jelly, Muscadine Jelly, Froze homegrown corn, made pickles, Pear Jam, and Watermelon Jam.

First thing before you begin making Watermelon Rind Pickles,  you’ll want to have everything ready. I sterilized my jars, lids, and rings. I like to do this in the dishwasher because I know it’s sterilized, but you can also boil water and sterilize them that way for about 10-15 minutes.

Materials – I linked everything below, just click on the name of the item.

• Jars. I used half pint sized jars.
• Preserving Canning Pot – The one I linked is similar to the one I used. I linked a set because you’ll need the rack and jar lifters.
• Large sauce pan or boiling pot

Ingredients

–          4 quarts of cubed watermelon rind **White portion only**

–          1 gallon of cold water

–          1 cup salt

–          2 cups vinegar

–          7 cups sugar

–          1 tablespoon cloves

–          1 tablespoon All Spice

–          ¼ teaspoon mustard seed

–          3 cinnamon sticks

–          1 lemon – thinly sliced

Directions

1. First thing I did was make sure all of my jars, lids, and rings were thoroughly sanitized.  It’s also a good idea to go ahead and have the correct amount of water in the canner already heating (be sure to place the canning rack on the lip of the canner so you can place your jars in rack before submerging into the hot water). The water has to cover the jars by 1-2 inches.
2. Cut watermelon rind into 1” cubes. REMOVE THE GREEN AND PINK PORTIONS – I didn’t do this. I used the green portions, which is okay but it would have been more convenient if I would have discarded the green portion. We just eat around it.
3. Dissolve salt into water, add the watermelon rind and let stand 6 hours or overnight. I put mine in the fridge.
4. Drain, rinse, and cover with cold water in large sauce pot. Cook until tender – about 20 minutes. Drain and set aside.
5. Tie spices – cloves, all spice, mustard seed, and cinnamon sticks – into cheesecloth forming a bag.
6. Add bag of spices, vinegar, sugar, and lemon slices into sauce pot.
7. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes.
8. Add rind, simmer until transparent.
9. Remove spice bag and pack rind into prepared jars.
10. Pour remaining syrup over ring leaving ¼” head space.
11. Wipe rims clean, place lids and rings over the jars and tighten.
12. Place jars into a waterbath canner according to your altitude.
13. Altitude chart:
    1. 1,000-3,000 – 10 minutes canning time
    2. 3,001-6,000 – 15 minutes canning time
    3. 6,001-8,000 – 20 minutes canning time
    4. 8,001-10,000- 25 minutes canning time
14. When canning is complete remove jars and place on a towel to cool. Once cooled, check for any jars that didn’t seal. Refrigeration is required if any jars didn’t seal properly.

Yield about 6 pints.

Tips & Tricks

–          Pick a good watermelon. The best way to pick a sweet watermelon is to get the ugliest you can find – lol, seriously. You want a good yellow underbelly (that means it set out and allowed to ripen), you want to see some brown spots (that’s the sugar spots), and you want to find the heaviest of the bunch. Usually this makes for a good sweet watermelon

• My bag busted while I was stirring the mixture so I think that’s why mine turned out so dark.

I hope you have a good turn out and everyone loves your watermelon rind pickles!

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