Change is in the air. The days are still warm but you can feel the coolness of autumn more and more. The leaves on the trees have been signaled that green is going out of style. In our share boxes the end of the summer veggies are giving way to fall squashes, root veggies, and apples. As things begin to shift, let’s recap how this week’s crates fared at our homes:
- watermelon
- Cubed, sliced, and generally enjoyed as is
- Cinnamon Watermelon Rind Pickles (scroll down for details!)
- Seeds used in spitting contests with the Anderson boys (yup, mother of the year right here!)
- Watermelon juice
- beefsteak tomatoes, salad tomatoes, heirloom cherry tomatoes
- Grilled cheese and Tomato Sandwiches
- Tomato Sandwiches
- BLTs
- Tomato Sauce
- In a kale salad
- sugar pumpkin
- bell peppers
- poblano peppers
- banana peppers
- acorn squash
- heirloom eggplant
- Eggplant Cutlets frozen for Winter Use
- Eggplant in Spicy Garlic Sauce
- Crispy eggplant
- slicing cukes
- Enjoyed as-is
- summer squash
- gala apples
- What apples?!??!? The Anderson boys ate them quickly
- Apple compote for pancakes
- kale
- Kale Brownies
- Stems in Smoothies
- Kale salad
- Swiss chard
- Pumpkin Stuffing
- Simple sauté with garlic and olive oil
All veggie scraps composted unless otherwise noted.
Another yummy week here at CSA365! Now for a quick word from Jess:
The melons are coming! The melons are coming! With the bounty (some would call it an onslaught) of 5 melons this week, one could be easily overwhelmed, not just with the fruit, but the sheer amount of compost created by the rinds. Perhaps there is something that we can do to enjoy the rinds, too? This is CSA365, of course!
I am working from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, a helpful guide for many standard and unique jams, jellies, and full canned meals. This is more of a walk through my experience making this recipe, rather than an adaptation. Let’s take a closer look!
Similar to making sauerkraut, you start with a non-reactive crock or stainless steel pan and salt your layers of rinds, about 1 tablespoon of pickling or canning salt per cup of rinds. (Please ignore the green in my photos and PEEL YOUR WATERMELON RIND BEFORE THIS STEP! I forgot to do so and peeled every one of these way later in the recipe. It does make a difference in the taste to leave the peel on, and not in a pleasant way, rather bitter and vegetal.)
Next, you place a plate into your bowl slightly smaller than the bowl and weigh it down by placing a heavy glass jar or two on top of the plate. Refrigerate for about 8 hours or overnight (again, ignore the peel on the rind, that should not be there). After this, rinse and drain twice. Boil the rinds in a stainless steel saucepan for 10 minutes or “until fork tender” as the folks over at Ball recommend.
The brine is made of 4 cups vinegar and 6 cups sugar, with 3 cinnamon sticks broken in half. This boils (again in stainless steel) for 5 minutes before the rind is added.
Cook in the brine for about an hour until the rind is translucent. (This is finally when I realized there should be no peel and peeled each piece, jarring them in a new batch of brine.) The rind yellows a bit at this part.
Behold the pickled rind. It is a taste sensation! Very much like a sweet pickle and the cinnamon add a nice touch. These would be great next to a rack of Springdell ribs! I’ll be making these again, without the peel next time.
