Does anyone on this forum have a good recipe for watermelon rind preserves? I used to get them when I lived in Virginia. The old widow woman that lived down the street put cinnamon in them and they were good enough to make a rannit hug a hound.

my wifes grandmother used to make tomatoe jelly,I would think that it might be made the same as watermelon,only problem is finding the recipie.today we are laying my father in law to rest after a long and hard battle with cancer and im sure one of the older family members will know where the recipie is and when i find it i will post it here

Joe,

I did a quick search for "watermelon rind preserves" on yahoo and found a bunch of recipes. Many of them had cinnamon as an
ingredient. Can't vouch for any, but they looked good.

Here's the link to the search:

Watermelon Rind search

Take Care,

-Steve

Thanks Steve. That is enough to keep me busy for a while.

My mother made a lot of watermelon rind pickles and I have her recipe for them. She used a lot of "shorthand" in her recorded recipes due to having done this stuff for so many years but I have tried to put it together in working format. I have never made these pickles but her's were absolutely wonderful. Here goes:
Watermelon Rind Pickles
Ingredients
� 8 cp watermelon rind
� 1/2 cp salt (Sea salt or canning salt)
� 1 TBS alum
� 8 cp cold water
� 3 cp sugar
� 2 cups white vinegar
� 1 cinnamon stick pr pint jar
�

Peel out the watermelon rind, removing the hard, green outer shell. Cut rind into strips about 1/2-3/4" x4" until you have 8 cups of slices. Layer rind and salt in a stainless steel bowl or crock. Don’t use aluminum or plastic! Cover with cold water and add the alum. Soak overnight, at least for 12 hours.
Drain and rinse twice in cold water, then place strips of rind and 8 cups cold water into a stainless steel saucepan and boil until tender (10 minutes). Drain again.

Next, combine sugar, vinegar and broken cinnamon sticks in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce heat but keep at a simmer of low boil for one hour.

Wash pint jars thoroughly, bathe jars in boiling water for 10 minutes. Boil the lids for 5 minutes. Pack the jars with the rind strips and pour in the boiling pickling solution, filing to about 1" of jar top. Wipe jar rim, set the lids and bands and allow jars to seal.

I believe she would let the jars set for some 6 wks or so before she would use the pickles. Also, I think the recipe can be doubled because she used to make a lot of them at one time.
These things will snap like an icicle if they are made right and the taste is just wonderful.
Best regards and good luck with the pickles!

If you can find Tom T. Hall,might learn how to make watermelon wine.

WyoJoe, yeah, my mom makes preserves alla time. I'll get back to you on this. Good stuff...

Here ya go Joe:

Peel dark from exterior, most of red from interior(little left on won't hurt).

Ratio is: 1 pound of rind pieces or chunks, 3/4 pound sugar, 1 lemon thinly sliced w/o seeds.

Mix and set aside(overnight works), bring to a low boil then back off enough to stop boiling. Cook until at preserves consistancy. If you have a candy thermometer, great! Mom has no idea what temperature she uses. It's the old TLAR method. You know, That Looks About Right... Enjoy.