Time is ripe for making watermelon rind pickles

The pinnacle of my mother's canning and preserving heyday was when she made watermelon rind pickles. I so loved them that a holiday relish tray without those beloved pickles still violates tradition.

I don't know if she followed a written recipe. If she did, I've never been able to find it; however, over the years, I've come pretty close to duplicating the outcome.

So I was very curious - and excited - when I heard the Ruskin Woman's Club was going to be making watermelon rind pickles as part of its annual fundraising efforts. I wrestled an invitation to "investigate" during day one of the five-day affair.

I guess they knew me, because I was immediately warned the club wouldn't be sharing its age-old recipe.

"OK," I thought. "Mum's the word."

As I walked up the steps of the historic three-story building, there was no mistaking there was a pickling party going on. I'd recognize that vinegary and sweet aroma anywhere.

I could tell this wasn't a first-time effort. In a highly organized manner, 10 pickle makers had taken their places at various stations around the kitchen. Almost everyone had a knife of one size or another. Paulene Crill was charged with slicing 28 large watermelons donated by Sydney Liles of Ruskin.

Ruskin resident Kate Hamilton volunteered her services to help cut and dice the watermelon. Last year her husband purchased a case of the pickles. He suggested maybe she should learn how to make them. So there she was.

Others around the table were club members Bobby Nell Strong, president; Dorothy Renshaw; Juanita Sehorne, Judy Thompson, Sharon Sweat, Wilma Wood, and volunteer Toniann Guarisco of Ruskin.

Betty Jo Council manned the stove, where several snare-drum-size stockpots simmered bite-size cubes of rind that bobbed to the surface. Newspapers covered the entire floor.

Feeling like an undercover reporter, I peeked at the hand-typed list of ingredients and directions sitting on the window sill. On top it read, "Adapted from a recipe given to Dorothy Renshaw by Margaret Council in 1958." Betty Jo said her mother, Margaret Dole, moved from Kansas to Ruskin with her family in 1934 and married into the Council family several years later.

It was so much fun watching these Ruskin matriarchs working together on this project. All had their assigned duties, and each went cheerfully about them. I laughed out loud listening to their banter.

I took notes.

Only the rind of the watermelon was used in pickling. Its green skin and pink flesh were removed, and the sweet, red flesh donated to Mary and Martha House, LifePath Hospice and Boggs Jewelry, the latter a business that supports the club throughout the year.

The 1-inch pieces of rind then were immersed in a solution of salt and water to brine them. Drawing excess water out of the rind, this gives the pickles their crunch by halting enzymatic action that could soften them.

This year's batch resulted in roughly 130 jars, which will sell for $5 apiece. The money will go into the club's general fund to support its various charity efforts and pay for building maintenance.

I came away with a deepened sense of community and an appreciation for the The women come from a generation that favors traditional methods and flavors and shares their culinary gifts.

I found a recipe to share with you that includes a shortened method for making watermelon-rind pickles. Of course, if you want to taste the woman's club pickles, you'll have to purchase a jar, just like me. Call Bobbie Nell at (813) 645-3136.

PICKLED WATERMELON RIND

3 pounds watermelon rind

4 cups sugar

2 cups distilled white vinegar

6 three-inch cinnamon sticks

2 tablespoons whole allspice

2 tablespoons whole cloves

Cut rind into 1-inch cubes; trim outer green skin and pink flesh. Soak overnight in salted water (3 tablespoons of salt per 1 quart water). Drain. Cover with fresh water and cook until tender, and then drain.

Heat the sugar and vinegar to a boil. Add spices, tied in a cheesecloth bag. Add rind. Cook uncovered until transparent, about 45 minutes. Remove spice bag. Pack watermelon tightly into hot, sterilized jars. Pour this boiling syrup over the rinds to within 1/8-inch from the top of the jars, making sure the vinegar solution covers the rind. Seal each jar at once.

Makes 3 pints.

Adapted from a recipe in the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, Meredith Corp., 1976