Watermelon, watermelon, and MORE WATERMELON!

I love watermelon! I could eat watermelon everyday and not get tired of it! When we harvested 30+ watermelons from our farm, I was I watermelon bliss! However, I quickly remembered that watermelons only keep for 2-4 weeks before they can get mushy or sour. So, I had to come up with a strategy to make the most out of all of these delicious watermelons.



Harvested watermelons



First, I decided to pile up all of the watermelons in my car and drive my "melon-mobile" around to deliver watermelons to friends and family. I gave away about half of the melons and felt good about feeding others with our organic produce. They all seemed very happy to receive the melons too. :)



Melon-mobile makes its deliveries



The remaining watermelons were not so visually attractive because of scars or imperfections, but they were still tasty! So, I ate AND I ATE watermelon until I could eat watermelon no more. I cut watermelon in half and ate it with a spoon. I sliced it up and ate it that way. I even ate it on a stick like a popsicle! :)



I ate A LOT OF WATERMELON



After all that watermelon eating, I almost reached a point where I didn't want to eat watermelon anymore, so I decided to look up a few recipes for preserving watermelon. I found two, pickled watermelon rinds and watermelon jelly.

Pickled watermelon rinds may not sound that appealing, but they are preserved in a cinnamon and allspice sugar syrup and almost taste like candy. In order to make them, it is a 2-day process of peeling, soaking, and cooking. When they are finally done, they are these beautiful pieces of watermelon rind in a  golden amber syrup. I love that gorgeous color! :)



Pickled watermelon rinds



The watermelon jelly was not as time consuming, but still tricky. I decided to make a sugar-free version, so I could share with my mom who has diabetes. Instead of 3+ cups of sugar, I used 2 cups of a cherry juice concentrate and some lemon juice. It turned out wonderful and tastes like watermelon-cherry jelly. When spread on a warm piece of toast, it goes FAST!



Watermelon-cherry jelly



We have used up most of the watermelons now and I have plenty of canned watermelon products to last me through the winter and maybe until next watermelon season!

Pickled watermelon rinds and watermelon jelly