• Using a vegetable peeler, remove
tough green rind from watermelon; discard.
• Slice watermelon 1″ thick. Cut away all
but ¼” flesh from each slice; reserve flesh
for another use. Cut rind into 1″ pieces. (You should have about 4 cups.)
• Bring chile, ginger, star anise, salt, peppercorns, sugar, vinegar, and ½ cup water to a boil in a large saucepan, stirring
to dissolve sugar and salt. Add watermelon rind and return to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until just tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool, setting
a small lid or plate directly on top of rind
to keep submerged in brine, if needed.
• Transfer rind and liquid to an airtight container; cover and chill at least 12 hours.
• Do Ahead: Watermelon rind can
be pickled 2 weeks ahead. Keep chilled.

• 1/4 medium watermelon, washed
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 2-3 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1-2 tbsp. powder sugar

Preparation

• Cut the watermelon into wedges, remove the flesh and eat it or set aside.
• Using a vegetable peeler, peel away the green outer skin. Cut white part of rinds into chunks.
• Put rinds into a saucepan and cover with water.  Bring to a boil, and simmer for about 5 minutes.
• A pink-orange foam can float to the surface, discard it. Drain and rinse the rinds.
• Combine sugar and water, let dissolve, add rinds, bring to boil, cook 15 minutes, turn heat off and let rinds stay in syrup, covered with kitchen towel, about 8-10 hours.
• Bring to boil again, cook 15 minutes, turn heat off and let rinds stay another 8-10 hours.  And do it again one more time but add lemon juice and vanilla extract and cook 15 minutes, drain the rinds from the syrup (reserve the syrup for other uses if you want or store candied rinds in syrup). OR just simmer rinds in syrup 45 minutes. Cooking with long intervals will not let fruits seethe, but make them transparent.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment, and sprinkle powder sugar over the parchment.  Add candied rinds into pan, so they do not touch each other and let dry day or two. Low-heated oven or dehydrator can help use too.

Watermelon Rind Preserves

Fat Free Vegan

Ingredients

• 16 cups  watermelon rind
• 5 cups  sugar
• 1 lemon slice
• 1 lemon, juice and zest of
• 1⁄2teaspoon  ground cinnamon
• 1⁄4teaspoon  ground cloves
• 1⁄2teaspoon  ground ginger
• 3 drops red food coloring (optional)

Preparation

• Trim green peel and red flesh from watermelon. Cut rind into small cubes (14-16 cups).
• Place cubed rind into stainless steel pot (Dutch oven size) and add one part sugar to two parts rind (I use little less sugar in my recipe). Let sit until sugar dissolves, a couple or hours or overnight (preferably overnight). Rind and sugar should have made its own liquid.
• Start cooking on medium, checking and stirring until it starts to boil, about 20-30 minutes.
• Add thinly sliced lemon, juice and zest of the other lemon. Stir in ground or whole spices of your choice.
• Turn down heat to low and cook on low heat until rinds are translucent, checking and stirring often (don’t want the sugar to burn). (Approximately 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours more or less, until rinds are translucent).
• If using red food coloring, add a few drops to desired color at this point, stir well.
• Seal in prepared jars, clean jars, lids and rings placed in boiling water until ready to fill. Approximately (8) 1/2 pint jars, (16) 1/4 pint jars, or (4) pint jars.
• Immediately after filling jars I like to turn them upside down for 5-10 minutes, supposedly to help them seal.
• Optional instead of ground spices add with lemons:
• Cinnamon sticks (eight short pieces, 1 for each jar).
• Whole cloves (16-32 cloves, 2-4 for each jar).
• Grated fresh ginger (1 tablespoon).
• Red food coloring (optional).

Watermelon Rind Curry

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