In a pickle
With the lazy dog days of summer in full force, watermelon becomes an important, albeit a temporary staple. Preserving this fleeting luxury reminds me of my mother’s watermelon rind pickles. Sweet and syrupy with a gelee texture, they were more dessert than condiment.
Preparation for watermelon pickles - Russian Style.
In an effort to capture the mouth-watering taste of summer, I found a tantalizing recipe for Solyoniy Arbuz otherwise known as Russian pickled watermelon in the September issue of Saveur.
Slicing, dicing, pickles and brine.
So off I went to find a watermelon, dill and pickling spices. What I returned with was a black, seedless watermelon. Its green-black rind was shiny and unblemished. For its size, it was very heavy. The flesh was not as dark as I expected, but a deep ruby red.
A pot of premature pickles awaiting refrigeration.
Watermelon, celery, salt, sugar, dill, pickling spices, vinegar, a touch of cayenne for kick, water and a week’s worth of waiting. A basic refigerator pickle.
Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 at 2:02 pmand is filed under food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 26th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
This recipe is brilliant. I can attest to it as I was fortunate enough to sample the delicacy. The sweet, sour and spicy combination is sheer genius and a truly cultural experience for the taste buds. Bravo Mr. Cyr.