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Watermelon rind pickles & kosher dills

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  • Watermelon rind pickles & kosher dills

    Kind of surprised their isnt a pickling or canning section on here.

    I'm still not doing any smoking, but lots of other cooking.

    When I was in NOLA, I went to a magnificent restaurant called Cochon, a rooter to tooter pork and cajun food restaurant run by Chef Link & Chef Strjewski. Home cooking, whole hog cooking, rabbit, etc. I actually broke down and ate some ribs, high quality pork, a little to fall off the bone, but decent. The kicker for me was the sauce popping with vinegar, and little chunks of what I thought were apples on top. Turns out these chunks were watermelon pickles. Never heard of them. Loved em from that point.

    I did some research, and found out the process for making these pickles, I went out and bought a large pot for the water bath for pickling and canning and some other supplies.

    Gave em' a try this weekend. Got a watermelon, and removed the pink felsh and green part from the rind. Chopped this into 1"x1" cubes, and tossed them in some cold water with some salt. Put this into the fridge overnight. This a.m., I rinsed drained and rinsed these and put them in a pot and simmered the rinds til they were tender. While this was going on, in another pot I put sugar, vinegar, water, cinnamon stick, & cloves and simmered this til it became a syrup. Strained the syrup, added the tender rinds, some marachino cherries and 1/2 of a lemon that was cut into thin slices. Simmered this mix til the rind was translucent. I sanitized the pint jars, and the lids, filled the pint jars, and topped. Into the boiling water bath for 5 minutes. Done. These will be ready in about 3 weeks.

    I also did some kosher dill pickles, some with sliced jalapenos, and some without, some as spears and others as thick slices. Pickling liquid for these was vinegar, water, pickling salt, pickling spice. In each jar went minced jalapeno, minced garlic, whole cloves of garlic, & dill. These spent 10 minutes in the bath.

    Cant wait to try all of these.

    Watermelon pickles:



    rinds:





    cubed:



    pickling syrup ingredients:



    rind in the syrup:



    bottled before bath:



    in the bath before being lowered in:



    finished and set aside to cool:



    Kosher dills:

    cukes, jalapenos, dill, garlic:



    bottled(pre bath):





    out of the bath, and cooling:



    Alot of work, alot of fun.

    thanks for looking.
    Just because you welded some shit together doesnt make it a WSM.

    Twitter: @GrubSeeker

  • #2
    Very impressive! I never met a pickle I didn't like, and I'd love to try both of those! Nice job there Jim.
    Lang 36 Patio, a few Webers, 2 Eggs, plenty of gadgets and a MES 40 Gen 2.5 electric for bacon and sausage.
    My best asset however is the inspiration from the members on this forum.

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    @SmokinJim52 on Twitter

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    • #3
      nothing looks better than homemade canned goods!! never had these before but they sure look great!
      ~ George Burns

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      • #4
        thanks folks,

        my first attempt, so I am curious how they will turn out. I read as much a I could about pickling, safety & techniques as I could.
        Just because you welded some shit together doesnt make it a WSM.

        Twitter: @GrubSeeker

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        • #5
          Let me know when they're done... comin' to your house... I'll bring the beer.


          Drinks well with others



          ~ P4 ~

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          • #6
            Looks real tasty big Jim.........

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            • #7
              thanks y'all..

              checked the seals this morning now that they are all cooled down. All sealed correctly. I will out them down tn my cool, dark basement for storage this afternoon after work.

              Toughest part is going to be waiting the 3 weeks to try them.
              Just because you welded some shit together doesnt make it a WSM.

              Twitter: @GrubSeeker

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              • #8
                The Farmer in me can't get my head around seeing watermelon and cucumbers in February.
                Looks good though. Love watermelon rinds pickled.
                "And I SWORE I would not read, much less post in that thread, dammit!

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by moselle View Post
                  The Farmer in me can't get my head around seeing watermelon and cucumbers in February.
                  Looks good though. Love watermelon rinds pickled.
                  I was happy to find good/fresh versions of each.

                  Sucks living in the upper midwest in the winter, I need to move to Louisiana.
                  Just because you welded some shit together doesnt make it a WSM.

                  Twitter: @GrubSeeker

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                  • #10
                    I wonder where they came from?
                    I saw a post the other day with corn on the cob and wondered the same thing.
                    Who is growing corn and watermelon now? Mexico?
                    "And I SWORE I would not read, much less post in that thread, dammit!

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                    • #11
                      Looks like jar # 10,000 Jim. Nice work! .... Looking forward to your reviews.... Waiting 3 weeks would be tough
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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by moselle View Post
                        I wonder where they came from?
                        I saw a post the other day with corn on the cob and wondered the same thing.
                        Who is growing corn and watermelon now? Mexico?
                        gotta be(i didnt check the lable), maybe Florida?
                        Just because you welded some shit together doesnt make it a WSM.

                        Twitter: @GrubSeeker

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Fishawn View Post
                          Looks like jar # 10,000 Jim. Nice work! .... Looking forward to your reviews.... Waiting 3 weeks would be tough
                          thanks, the watermelon tasted nice before it went in the jar, thinking the cinnamon, maraschino cherry, and cloves I used in the pickling syrup will be good.
                          Just because you welded some shit together doesnt make it a WSM.

                          Twitter: @GrubSeeker

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                          • #14
                            great job jim, i cant wait to see the final product
                            Island of Misfit Smokers Member #92

                            How to heal the world. Love people and feed them tasty food.

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                            • #15
                              Opened (1) pint of the watermelon pickles Saturday for supper, they were put up about 4 weeks ago.

                              Really nice, tender chunks of the rind, pops of cinnamon, sweet, and cherry. I will be doing these again for sure.





                              pickling is almost as fun as smoking.
                              Just because you welded some shit together doesnt make it a WSM.

                              Twitter: @GrubSeeker

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