Watermelon is one of my favourite fruits. While there are 1200 varieties of watermelon grown in 96 countries all over the world, the five main types are seedless, seeded, yellow, orange, and mini. The United States is the 7th largest producer of watermelons in the world and Canada imports over 300 million pounds each year, making the fruit available all year round. In addition to being a great source of hydration and nutrients, I really like how the entire watermelon is edible, including the rind!

My mom first made pickled watermelon rind for me when I was little, and I thought she was just experimenting, but it was actually a recipe from her childhood and a dish that I always wanted to make myself. This recipe for Asian Pickled Watermelon Rind is spicy, sour, salty and sweet. I love the extra prickliness from the Sichuan peppercorns and it’s an addictive side dish to congee, perfect sliced thin in a sandwich or as a crunchy snack. Cutting the rind is a bit of extra effort, but it’s worth it and a great way to reduce food waste.

How to Cut Watermelon to Save the Rind?

For more watermelon recipes, information and tips, check out https://www.watermelon.org/.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post in collaboration with The National Watermelon Promotion Board. All ideas and opinions expressed are wholly mine.

Yum

Asian Pickled Watermelon Rind

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 4 cups

Ingredients

• 4 cups trimmed watermelon rind
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 star anise
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 4 dried red chilies
• 1 knob of ginger, sliced
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns

Instructions

1. Trim watermelon rinds, cutting off the dark skin and any soft, pink flesh until only the hard crunchy rind remains. Cut rinds into 1inch by 1/4inch segments.
2. In a small pot, add the sugar, star anise, vinegar, chilies, ginger slices, salt, Sichuan peppercorns and bring brine to a boil. Stir. Once the sugar and salt has dissolved, turn off the heat and set aside to cool.
3. Fill an airtight container with the trimmed watermelon rinds leaving space at the top. Once the brine is cooled to room temperature, pour over the rind until it covers the top completely. Spoon the Sichuan peppercorns, star anise and chili peppers on top.
4. The pickles will be ready after 12-24 hours and will keep refrigerated for at least two weeks or more.

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My love of watermelon is well known amongst family and friends. I am the one who always brings a watermelon to camping trips, the one craving it all year round and the one who easily eats a watermelon by herself every week. Alivia’s recently fallen in love with the delicious, sweet melon as well and Stephen and I are seriously pondering if we need multiple watermelons per week (so I don’t have to share). While more popular during warmer months, watermelon is in season all year round thanks to sourcing from the U.S. The Canadian market imports over 300 million pounds of U.S. watermelon annually.

How to Pick a Good Watermelon?

Watermelon makes a great snack as it’s a great source of hydration, being 92% water, and vitamins A (8% DV) and C. It’s also cholesterol, fat and sodium-free. While my favourite way to eat watermelon is scooped with a spoon, straight from the rind, there are also lots of ways to cook watermelon flesh, juice and rind. A cold pitcher of watermelon juice is a must when enjoying hot pot and watermelon gazpacho is the definition of summer next to a watermelon mojito. This recipe for watermelon sago is sweet, rich with a bit of bite. Served chilled, it’s a perfect dessert.For more watermelon recipes, information and tips, check out https://www.watermelon.org/.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post in collaboration with The National Watermelon Promotion Board. All ideas and opinions expressed are wholly mine.

Yum

Watermelon Sago

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Serving Size: 2

Ingredients

• 2L of water for boiling sago
• 1/4 cup of sago
• 1L of ice water
• 4 cups watermelon flesh
• 1/2 cup of coconut milk (chilled)
• 1/4 cup simple syrup (optional)

Instructions

1. In a large pot on high heat, bring 2L of water to a rolling boil. Add 1/4 cup of sago. Once the water begins to boil again, lower the temperature to medium heat and maintain a low boil. Boil for approximately 20 minutes until the sago turns clear and transparent.
2. When the sago is done boiling, remove from heat, strain, and place into a large bowl with 1L of ice water.
3. Cut watermelon flesh into chunks, add 3 cups to a blender with coconut milk, and pulse until smooth. For more sweetness, add simple syrup and stir well.
4. In a glass or bowl, add the remaining watermelon chunks, 2-3 tbsp of strained sago and top with blended watermelon.

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Disclaimer: Products reviewed below were provided complimentary by Ely Products. All opinions expressed below are wholly mine and not indicative of the opinions or positions held by Ely Products.

The Basics:
Imported from Latin America, Natural Sins is a baked, dried fruit snack that is 100% natural with no preservatives or dyes. The fruit is sliced very thin and each re-sealable package contains 1oz of the snack. There are 6 fruits available; mango, coconut, apple, orange, beetroot and pineapple. Each package of Natural Sins is 100 calories or less, with the exception of coconut at 168 calories.

My Experience:
When I’m bored at home or work, I look for a snack. While I love to eat fruit naturally, I will also gravitate towards fruits that are easily accessible. It’s why I have to pre-peel my oranges, and pre-slice my apples in the mornings. Otherwise they’ll sit untouched on my desk for days. With Natural Sins, it was super easy to throw a package into my purse or leave them at my desk and have a healthy snack ready with no preparation required. Natural Sins can be purchased online through Ely Product’s website or at a wide variety of stores in the GTA, including Rabba’s fine foods and Starsky.

What I liked:

• I liked 4/6 of the flavours. Coconut, mango and beetroot were amazing.
  • I assumed I would like mango but I was surprised at how sweet beetroot was.
  • I’ve never been a fan of coconut and again was surprised at how good the Natural Sins version was. Each package of coconut also provides 8g of natural fiber, which is amazing.
• The ease of having a healthy snack that’s ready to eat, tasty and needs no clean up.
• The idea of the re-sealable package was great. The execution needed some work.
• Beetroot, seriously I wouldn’t have thought of it as a fruit but it was one of my favourites.
• The texture of each fruit slice was super crispy. The mango slices were reminiscent of chips.

What could use work:

• The apple thins were only ok, I found the slices weren’t as crispy as the other fruit.
• I really didn’t like the orange thins. The entire fruit was used in each slice, including the peel and albedo (the white stuff) making each crisp quite bitter. I’m sure it’s healthier but not so tasty.
• As mentioned above, each bag has a re-sealable zip stripe. However, some of the packages were sealed very close to the zip stripe. Therefore using the tear away indent didn’t actually open the bag.
• At over $3/bag, it is more expensive than buying fruit.

TL;DR: Conveniently packaged, Natural Sins fruit thins offers a quick, delicious, accessible, healthy snack choice at a gourmet price point.