Juicy Watermelon Recipes
Sweet and savory watermelon treats
Summer is officially here and it’s watermelon season! I have so many wonderful melon memories. Watermelon is wonderful simply chilled and sliced, but there is so much more you can do with this magnificent melon.
Fun fact: Did you know you can eat most of the watermelon including the rind and seeds?
The inner, white part of the rind can be used for sweet or savory snacks and condiments like jellies and pickles.
My Gam use to make rind jelly and now I’m seeing recipes for rind pickles.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get my Gam’s recipe and I didn’t eat much of her jelly because I was a bratty kid the thought of eating watermelon rind grossed me out. But I remember the distinct taste and texture of her rind jelly and wouldn’t mind tasting it today as my palette has evolved.
Alton Brown from Good Eats has a Rind Jelly recipe, but I’ve chosen to post the National Center for Food Preservation’s recipe because it’s a simpler recipe and reminds me of Gam’s.
Here is the Watermelon Board’s Rind Pickle recipe from Chef Dave Woolley
You can serve watermelon plain, with salt, or make a sweet or savory salad.
For a great savory salad, check out Lynn Parker’s savory, flavor-packed salad with vegan feta. Oh and for an eco-friendly, quick clean-up hostess tip: Serve it in the watermelon rind — just keep it cool!
Or if you want a fun, fruity drink to go with the holiday theme — I have my own recipe for a refreshing, fruit-based, frozen slushy.
Just in time for Juneteenth and 4th of July — you should try to make try my –
Green Tea Melon Ball Slushy — Makes 2 servings
Ingredients
1 cup of cubed, frozen watermelon or any melon of your choice
1 cup of cold unsweetened or sweetened green tea
1/2 cup of cold mint tea
Directions
Pour all the ingredients in the blender.
Pulse the blender 2–3 times to break up the frozen watermelon and then blend until smooth.
I like to add fresh mint — to garnish or crush leaves in the bottom to add an extra hit of mint.
Variations:
- You could use sweetened or unsweetened black tea, but it will drastically change the color.
- You can also use other melons — I’ve used canteloupe and honeydews, but I’ve never combined them
- You can also freeze the mixture in popsicle molds to make fun and festive popsicles.
Thank you for reading.
I hope you enjoy these recipes and let me know how they turned out for you.
