Pickled Watermelon Peels: This Is How The Watermelon Peel Is “Preserved”

With the summer heat advancing, what we love most to eat are fresh, thirst-quenching, and sugary foods to give us an immediate boost. What better ally, then, than a juicy slice of watermelon? Of course, then, we have to fill the wet bin with bulky leftovers, bulky peels that fill a bag by themselves.

What if instead of throwing them away, in addition to the possibility of composting them, we made them into pickles? Have you ever heard anything like it? Well, then the time has come to make your homemade preserves, following our instructions. For safety, we will briefly repeat here how to store at home:

• Wash the containers well with detergent, by hand or in the dishwasher, and rinse them carefully. Wrap them individually in clean sheets (preferably white) and place them in a large pot. Fill the pot with water to cover the containers and bring it to a boil over high heat.
• Lower the heat and let it simmer for about half an hour
• Remove the containers from the pot with tongs or a thick rubber glove and place them upside down on a clean tea towel. After a few minutes, turn them, leaving the opening upwards, to evaporate the water left inside.
• Now that the containers are sterilized, we recommend replacing the old lids and gaskets to minimize the chances of contamination.

Ingredients

• About 2.5 kg of watermelon peels
• 230 g of salt
• 2.8 l of water
• Two trays of ice cubes
• 1.8 kg of sugar
• 700 ml of white wine vinegar
• 700 ml of water
• One tablespoon of cloves
• Six cinnamon sticks in pieces of about 2.5 cm
• One lemon, thinly sliced, without the seeds. The doses are for 4 or 5 half-liter jars.

Preparation

• Cutaway the remaining pink pulp and the outer dark green rind from the skins. Cut them into cubes of about 2.5 cm per side or the shape you like best. Cover with a brine made by mixing the salt with 2.8 liters of cold water. Add the ice cubes and let them rest for 3 to 4 hours.
• Drain the skins from the brine and rinse them. Please put them in a saucepan, cover them with cold water and cook for about 10 minutes or insert a fork. They are tender (be careful not to overcook them!). Drain.
• Put together the sugar, the vinegar, the 700 ml of water, and the spices (gathered in a white muslin bag and tied) and boil for 5 minutes. Pour over the watermelon peels and add the lemon slices: put them in the refrigerator overnight when the temperature has dropped.
• Heat the skins in the syrup in which they are immersed to the boiling point, then cook over low heat for an hour.
• Place your still hot pickles in the jars, which are also desirable. Add a cinnamon stick to each container taking it from the ones you had tied together, and cover with the syrup leaving just over a cm from the edge. Remove the air bubbles very carefully and dry the edges of the jar with clean, absorbent paper. Close with the sterilized lids.
• Put the jars wrapped in cloth back into the pot, cover with water, and cook, from the moment of boiling, for 15-20 minutes to obtain the vacuum seal.

Also Read: Persimmon: Properties, Nutritional Values, Calories