July 24, 2018

Dill pickle potato salad

Finished bowl of dill pickle potato salad.

Creamy potato salad filled with dill - dill pickle juice, chunks of dill pickles, and dried dill - is perfect for the dill pickle lovers in your life!

July 12, 2018

Candied watermelon rind

Finished strips of candied watermelon rind.

Candied watermelon rind is a fun treat and a terrific way to use some of your food scraps and turn them into something you'd want to eat!

Watermelon rind is edible, though not especially tasty raw. My kids are watermelon monsters, so I buy one almost every week in the summer, leaving us with A LOT of rinds to compost or throw away.

I always enjoy coming up with ways to use up foods that otherwise may be tossed. Things like making pestos from some greens (like the tops of carrots or radishes), eating beet greens, making broths and stocks with the tops of celery and onion peels. These are all great ways to reduce food waste.

The process to candy the rind takes about 4 days, but most of the time is completely hands-off. I scaled up the recipe to make more and I added some drying time in the direct sunlight. 

It's an imperfect process that you have to play by ear; a dehydrator may be helpful here and cut down on drying time, but mine turned out delicious without one!

Pieces of watermelon rind lying on a baking sheet during the drying process.

Candied watermelon rind is similar to other candied rinds like oranges, lemon, and grapefruits. Watermelon rind is bland in flavor - it does not taste like watermelon. The lemon in this recipe adds the flavoring to the end product.

You can use other flavors if you prefer - lime or ginger would be great ones to try in this recipe if you don't want to use lemon, or don't like lemon flavor.

These are a fun and tasty treat to eat out of hand for a few days - they are almost like a fruit snack in a way. Their shape and texture also remind me of a gummy worm - sweet, a little tart, and a touch chewy. We eat them out of hand, but you can use them to decorate the tops of cupcakes or other treats as well. 

When your are planning to make watermelon rind candy, I suggest using rinds from watermelon that you have cut up into a fruit salad or similar. You don't want to collect up ones that people have been touching and eating from with their mouths. Remove the fruit from the rind with a knife and then use that rind for making candy.

Pouring sugar into a bowl of watermelon rinds and water.

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July 9, 2018

Roasted balsamic radishes

Cast iron skillet with roasted balsamic radishes with a fork piercing a radish.

Radishes roasted in olive oil, salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar are a tasty way to change-up your radish eating routine!