A little while ago now I attend the very fabulous 2012 Taste of Jackson Hole party, held at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort’s Couloir Restaurant. It was at this soiree that I had the chance to sample a variety of amazing local restaurant menu items and a likewise array of fine wines, and inside of this food junkie’s paradise was where I first found the Q Roadhouse’s watermelon salad on taste-me display. The salad was a delicious concoction that contained, among other things, pickled watermelon rinds.
Wait, pickled—watermelon rinds?! I had to take notice. Now, I am from Virginia, which is technically south of the Mason-Dixon line, but apparently not southern enough in definition for me to have been introduced to these culinary tidbits of spicy deliciousness. At introductory bite, I was hooked; these pickled rind throwbacks were damned good summertime eating. So in the spirit of the Ski Bum Kitchen, I promptly proposed to Roger Freedman, Fine Dining chef extraordinaire, that he help me with a project to share the recipe and process of this waste-not, want-not method of enjoying every last piece of the juicy summertime fruit. Seems like a great way to reduce outgoings once plumbed into this Restaurant Accounting Services Food Cost Calculator. My request was graciously accommodated.
I met Roger at the Q Roadhouse so I could sit in on one of his watermelon rind pickling sessions, during which he shared with me his inspiration for the restaurant menu’s unique item. “We had a Southern employee working at the Q, who one day saw me prepping the watermelon for our nightly menu,” Roger said. “This guy saw me throwing away the rinds after I cut out the watermelon pieces, and immediately asked what in the world I was doing, throwing them all away.”
Apparently, southerners have been in the business of pickling watermelon rinds for quite some time now, as, I suppose, it only makes sense. Nose-to-tail translates into fruit-flesh-to-rind, and in the interest of efficiency and deliciousness, this practice is not only a fun tradition, but also a respectfully sustainable one. Aforementioned Southern employee shared this tidbit of Southern heritage with Roger, who immediately jumped on board. “The pickled watermelon rinds act not only as a delicious component to our fresh watermelon salad, but they are a great way to utilize more and throw away less of the produce we’re getting in here at the Q,” Roger said.
The pickling process is fast, easy and fun. It’s a great family activity, and a creative way to teach kids about how to respect every component of the food that comes through their kitchen. So here, from the Q Roadhouse and Ski Bum Kitchen, is your guide to pickled watermelon rind scrumptiousness:
Ingredients
- 1 large watermelon
- 2 tablespoons salt in 1 gallon of water
- 1/2 cup pickling spice
- 6 cups vinegar
- 3 cups sugar
- 1 cup water
- Glass jars for storage (actually canning the rinds is optional)
Instructions
- Have a party.
- Gather your friends and/or family, and eat the insides of the watermelon you’ve decided to pickle. This is a fairly self-explanatory process.
- Cut up the leftover rind into clean, 1” cubes.
- Boil the raw, cubed rinds in some lightly salted water for 45 minutes (about 2 tablespoons salt to one gallon water is a good ratio, akin to a little less salt that you would use to boil pasta).
- This part of the process helps to break down the rinds and prepare them for the pickling liquid flavoring.
- Towards the end of the process of boiling your rinds, prepare your pickling liquid.
- Mix the pickling spice, vinegar, sugar and water together, and bring to a boil for about 5 minutes, just enough to dissolve the sugar and begin to release some of the aroma and flavors of the pickling spice.
- As they are finished, drain the water off of your boiled rinds, and distribute the rinds into their designated storage containers.
- Pour the hot pickling liquid over the rinds, let the whole concoction cool to room temperature, cover the containers and then refrigerate the product.
- Wait.
- At least, your rinds will be ready to go in about a day’s worth of refrigerated pickling time, and at most, who knows? I’d say these little snacks have a refrigerated shelf life of just over a handful of months.
- If you’re in the Advanced Domestic league and you know how to can goods, I’m sure you could figure out how to add an even longer shelf life to these pickled fancies.
- The last step to this process is, as always, to enjoy. Your pickled watermelon rinds will be sure to impress as a dinner party trick, or if you package them in pretty little Mason jars, they function beautifully as easy go-to gifts for whomever you’d like to share a little Ski Bum Kitchen love.
