By Joseph Parish
A recent visit by my friend and fellow survivalist Wayne on Sunday eventually got to the subject of canning. Wayne expressed an interest in a particular type of pickle recipes for watermelon rind. I knew that I had a recipe for it in my notes and was determined to find it for him.
Now as it was my wife and I had formally tried to can and pickle watermelon rind many years ago when we were first learning the skill of canning. Neither of us became extremely fond of the product however we made it and gave it to my wife’s father who enjoyed it immensely.
The great idea behind the pickled watermelon rind is that after you have enjoyed the watermelon itself you can put the rind to a practical purpose. Merely trim off all of the pink and green portions from the rind and you should end up with all green sections. Proceed to cut this green section up into one inch cubes and then soak these cubes for 10 hours in a solution of 1 gallon of water to which has been added 8 tablespoons of salt.
Upon the conclusion of the 10 hour soaking drain the rind and cook it until just before it gets tender. Next you will need to make syrup consisting of 4 cups of sugar, 2 cups of white vinegar, 5 teaspoons of clove, 6 cinnamon sticks, and a dash of mustard seed. You can use some scrape cloth to tie all the spices in. You would not want to leave the spices in the syrup because they would tend to darken it.
Heat the syrup to the point where it is just about ready to boil and then let it cool for 15 minutes. At this time add the watermelon rind and cook until is appears transparent. Now you can pack the watermelon mixture in sterilized jars and caps. If you would like you can add a slice of lemon, ginger root or any of your favorite spices to the mix when you prepare to jar it.
I hope that this recipe fills the missing gap for Wayne.
Original: http://survival-training.info/articles7/WatermelonRindPickles.htm
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