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Watermelon Rind Preserves
Prepare in the same manner as citron melon preserves, but use only the green rind of the melon, - discarding the seed portion. In making citron melon preserve, use the whole melon save the thin, green, outer rind and the seeds.
This entry is a variation note rather than a standalone recipe: it assumes you have the citron melon preserve directions in hand and only tells you which part of the melon to use. A few points on translating it.
- It is incomplete on its ownNo sugar, water, spice or cooking time appears here. The syrup proportions live in the citron melon preserve recipe this one points back to, and you need that page (or a current preserve formula) to proceed.
- "Green rind" is confusing as writtenFor citron melon the book says to discard the thin green outer skin; for watermelon it says to use "only the green rind," discarding the seed portion. The most likely reading is the firm rind layer beneath the striped skin, once the pink flesh is cut away: peel off the tough outer skin, trim off the red flesh, and cube what remains. The book itself does not spell this out.
- Citron melon is not citron fruitThe citron melon (preserving melon) is a hard, pale-fleshed relative of the watermelon grown for preserves and mock-fruit fillings. It is rarely sold now, while the watermelon-rind version remains familiar.
- The rind wants firming firstMany period rind-preserve recipes soak the cubes overnight in lime water or a salt brine, then rinse and parboil until barely tender before the syrup. Whether this book calls for it would have to be checked on the citron melon page. Without some such step the pieces tend to soften and collapse.
- Sugar goes on slowlySugar often goes on slowly -- Preserves of this older sweetmeat type are frequently candied rather than stewed, the pieces sitting in a syrup strengthened over a day or two so the sugar penetrates gradually; heavy syrup applied at once can shrivel and toughen the outside. The actual method here depends on the citron melon page.
- Sealing and storageThe book gives no processing instruction. Paraffin-sealed jars stored cool were one common practice of the period. Follow a current tested method for filling, sealing and boiling-water processing, and refrigerate anything not properly processed.
Rind preserves belong to the frugal logic that runs through American preserving books: the melon flesh is eaten in season and cannot be kept, so the rind is candied into something that lasts the winter. Sweetmeats of this kind have antecedents in an older European tradition of preserving citron and other firm-fleshed fruits in successively heavier syrups, and watermelon-rind preserves are strongly associated with Southern and Pennsylvania German cooking. The citron melon named here was grown as a preserving melon, its bland, dense flesh holding its shape in syrup; it has largely dropped out of commerce, while the watermelon rind variation, given only a few lines in this book, is the version still commonly made.