Hi All,
I have been considering making watermelon rind pickles using the technique discussed here on VPA for sour pickles since it worked so well. Has anyone tried the watermelon with the LF process? I'm going to post this on the main forum also.
I found a suggested recipe based on what I used for the sour pickles. Peel the skin off the melon, pare the fresh fruit leaving only the white rind. Add some sugar and cinnamon to the whey, salt and water, let sit for 3 days on the counter and then refrigerate. I got a watermelon from the farmers market yesterday so I'm going to cut it up within the next 2 days and give the above recipe a try, but would enjoy hearing anyone else's try at this type of pickle. :-)
Replies
i've done them kimchi style.
Day 3 of the Pickled Watermelon Rind experiment using lacto-fermentation.
I tasted them and they do not have the sweetness I was looking for to go with the sour, so I'm going to add 2 tablespoons of organic sugar and see what they taste like in a week. I can taste the cinnamon I put in, but not a 'high' note. They went into the frig this morning.
Here is the recipe:
Rind- enough 2 inch pieces to fill a quart mason jar*
1 tablespoon of sea salt
4 tablespoons of whey
1 tablespoon of organic cane sugar
1/8 teaspoon of Ground Ceylon Cinnamon (some recipes call for using the sticks)
*(skin pared off with potato peeler and I wound up using the peeler to remove any 'melon' - the spoon was digging in too much)
I put the rind pieces in the jar and left about 1 inch of head space. I added the whey, added the salt, sugar and cinnamon and filled with water**
I put 2 glass pickle weights in to hold the rind under. (Note to self and others - put the weights in first before adding the water, so the spices to not try to overflow out :-) I put syran wrap over and the lid but not the ring of the mason jar on, with just a bit folded back of the plastic to permit any gas to escape. I put it on the stove / counter for the recommended 3 days and popped into the frig this morning (July 1st).
**(I've been using tap water - which is what we drink -- a lot of discussions on fermentation say to use spring water, tap water that you have let sit for 24 hours to disperse the chlorine etc. - obviously you choice - it has not interrupted the fermentation with either this or my sour pickles).
One of the things I noticed with this rind and my sour pickles (which I have mentioned turned out great) is that the 'bubbling' that a lot or recipes tell you to look for never really happens for me. By the second day you can see there was some 'action' but I would not call it bubbling - just an FYI for other newbies like me.
This morning, July 13th, I tasted them again. I like the taste much better after adding the extra sugar on the 1st. Nice and crisp they are not softening up at all. These will make a nice alternative to standard pickles in things. I think when I make them next time I will increase the cinnamon, as I think it will add an extra touch. I may try adding cloves also for a next time effort.
I pickeld Watermelon Rind last year and used this recipe which is adapted from the National Center for Home Preservation's recipe. http://www.thebittenword.com/thebittenword/2009/08/pickled-watermel...
LOL on this part
"And some of the recipes read as if IKEA, the IRS and your crazy Aunt Sally collaborated on a document in Polish and then ran it through Google Translator."
Oh my that was funny. (Best definition of hard to navigate sites I ever read!)
Thank you for the link Erica - I'm looking at making it lacto-fermentation style with no vinegar. I have not made them yet - but plan on it tomorrow or Thursday.
Oh sorry. I thought you were just looking for others in general. I know I saw this on Pinterest awhile back, but cannot vouch for the flavor since I'm vegan and don't use Whey! It does look interesting though, I might try to make a vegan-version myself later this season.
http://www.sense-serendipity.com/2010/04/watermelon-rind-kimchi.html
No problem, I like the recipe link - I think I might have seen that when I was searching last week. The whey is not necessary - it just helps jump start the process. When I made my saurekraut with just salt and the juice of the cabbage "weep" added to the shreaded cabbage, it turned out wonderful.