Comments on: Cooking with Watermelon Rind

By: Kenton and Rebecca

Kenton and Rebecca — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 03:34:12 +0000

Well, you’ve inspired us to give it a try. Next time we eat watermelon (we have a fresh one from the garden, so that will be tomorrow for breakfast), we’re going to try it raw! =)

By: MObugs41

MObugs41 — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:05:52 +0000

LOL, my husband says if I get a tummy ache I deserve it. I love the stuff, and so far it hasn’t bothered me. You are right it will a conumdrum….cooked or raw, raw or cooked. Oh dear!

By: Kenton and Rebecca

Kenton and Rebecca — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:07:42 +0000

You eat the rind raw! Yipee! Then you’ll surely appreciate it in dishes. We must say, you’re the first person we’ve met who eats the rind raw — perhaps that will be the only problem, is that unlike most people who just throw it away, you’ll have to make a choice — eat it raw, or make it into stir-fry? =)

By: MObugs41

MObugs41 — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:24:18 +0000

I love watermelon, it is one of my favorite treats of summer. I almost always eat the light green flesh right to the outer skin, leaving nothing. My husband always teases me about, but I try to tell him that it tastes delicious. I never thought about incorporating it into cooking. I will definitely have to try it.
I love the Tobias poem also, brings back many childhood memories.

By: Kenton and Rebecca

Kenton and Rebecca — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:50:07 +0000

Thanks, Jackie, for another good use — the birds! Wonder who prefers them . . .?
We were just as surprised to discover that they’re such a great ‘vegetable’. We’ve since used them again in a sort of Minestrone concoction, again to great effect, and are going to be incorporating them into our cooking now on a regular basis.

By: Jackie Donnelly

Jackie Donnelly — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 02:03:20 +0000

I do enjoy watermelon pickles, but I never thought to cut up the rind and cook it like a vegetable. Thanks for the suggestion. I also put the rinds out by the birdfeeder because somebody out there likes to peck out the bit of pink that remains.

That Tobias poem was lovely.

By: Kenton and Rebecca

Kenton and Rebecca — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 13:24:45 +0000

Dear barefootheart,

We can’t express enough how much we enjoyed this poem. It invoked perfectly the magic of childhood summers. What a gift! We must explore more of John Tobias’ poetry, for it’s not often that words are put together so skillfully to invoke emotion and remembrance.

Thank you =)

By: barefootheart

barefootheart — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 02:54:08 +0000

K&R, I haven’t tried the pickles myself, but I do love the poem. Do you know it?

Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle Received from a Friend Called Felicity

During that summer
When unicorns were still possible;
When the purpose of knees
Was to be skinned;
When shiny horse chestnuts
(Hollowed out
Fitted with straws
Crammed with tobacco
Stolen from butts
In family ashtrays)
Were puffed in green lizard silence
While straddling thick branches
Far above and away
From the softening effects
Of civilization;

During that summer–
Which may never have been at all;
But which has become more real
Than the one that was–
Watermelons ruled.

Thick imperial slices
Melting frigidly on sun-parched tongues
Dribbling from chins;
Leaving the best part,
The black bullet seeds,
To be spit out in rapid fire
Against the wall
Against the wind
Against each other;

And when the ammunition was spent,
There was always another bite:
It was a summer of limitless bites,
Of hungers quickly felt
And quickly forgotten
With the next careless gorging.

The bites are fewer now.
Each one is savored lingeringly,
Swallowed reluctantly.

But in a jar put up by Felicity,
The summer which maybe never was
Has been captured and preserved.
And when we unscrew the lid
And slice off a piece
And let it linger on our tongue:
Unicorns become possible again.

John Tobias