Try something new: Pickled watermelon rinds
We typically think of watermelons as a huge green stripped oval fruit with pink flesh and lots of little black seeds but the flesh of watermelons can range from white to a deep red, with newer varieties being prized for their deep gold and bright orange colors. Some watermelon varieties have seeds that are green or red in colour.
My wife’s family introduced me to roasted watermelon seeds from the Philippines which are a highly addictive snack found in a number of cultures.
I remember as a child eating watermelon which family friends from Alabama would serve up cut into quarters, cut length -wise, which requires it to be eaten in a similar fashion as corn on the cob. Although it was a bit messier than the traditional little triangles that people slice watermelon in, it makes for a much more enjoyable eating experience.
As Ontario-grown melons come into season there are some things to consider when choosing a melon. Melons should be heavy for their size and while there is no real way to help you know this at first, the more you try different melons and compare them, the easier it is to judge their relative weight. The melons should always be fragrant when ripe. If you sniff the skin and can smell the flavor of the melon it should be perfect for eating. Most ripe melons in the muskmelon family are slightly soft at the blossom end and should be stored in the refrigerator until they’re used. Melons will ripen further at room temperature, but there is a limit as to how much they will ripen. The sweetest and most flavorful melons are those picked ripe from the vine and eaten relatively quickly.
You should wash the exterior surface of your melon well with soap and water right before cutting. While you don’t eat the skin, the skin will be touching your knife and cutting boards. The skin is often dirty, and contaminated with bacteria which have been associated with cases of salmonella and E. coli poisoning.
My other childhood memory of eating watermelons comes from being told not to eat the rind because it was poisonous which I assume was a way to try to teach me how far down to eat into the rind. This really rattled me especially when our friends from Alabama showed up with pickle watermelon rinds.
Southern Pickled Watermelon Rinds
Ingredients: 1 watermelon 5 cups water 2 tbsp. Salt, divided 1 tsp pickling spice 3 tbsp. sliced fresh ginger 2 whole cloves 2 whole allspice berries 1/2 cinnamon stick 1 cup sugar 1 cup white vinegar Method: Wash the melon well and pat dry. Peel the outer green layer from watermelon rind using a vegetable peeler. Split melon in half and remove the interior flesh of the watermelon for another use. Cut the peeled rind into 1/2-inch pieces. Bring the water and one tbsp. of the salt to a boil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the rinds to the boiling water. Reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain the rinds and place them into a in a large bowl.
Make a sachet containing the pickling spice, ginger, cloves, allspice, and cinnamon out of cheesecloth. Place the sachet, remaining salt, sugar, and vinegar in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir the mixture until the sugar dissolves. Pour the hot vinegar mixture over rinds and let them rest until they cool to room temperature. Cover and chill the rinds for at least 8 hours before serving.
Every week readers of this column email me questions, tips, or comments. Some of them are pretty useful or interesting and I’ll share a few that piqued my interest or proved handy.
I got an email from a reader who noticed on a Sunday that the light on his modem indicating internet activity was flashing furiously all day, even though no one in his house was using the internet. Later, when he checked his account with the company that supplies him with internet access, called an internet service provider (ISP), he discovered that over 6 gigs of data, a pretty hefty amount, had been downloaded on Sunday. He wanted to know how he could find out if someone other than a family member was accessing his wireless internet connection.
Your wireless signal probably extends beyond the walls of your house or apartment and a mandatory part of a wi-fi setup is to require the entry of a security passcode, called a network key, to access your wi-fi network. Not having a network key, or creating one that is dead simple to guess, could allow anyone in the vicinity to use your network to illegally download movies or send spam.
How can you discover if someone is using your wireless network without permission? There is a free program from Nirsoft called the Wireless Network Watcher (www. nirsoft.net/utils/wireless_network_watcher.html) which will display the name and other identifying information of every device connected to your wireless network.
Needless to say, if you suspect unauthorized access, change the network key to something complicated, write it down, and hide it in a secure place. To change the network key refer to the quick start guide that came with your wireless router or go online to the manufacturer’s site to download a manual or instructions. If you have a wireless router supplied by your ISP, such as Bell, Cogeco, or Nexicom, call technical support and see if the key can be changed remotely by the ISP, or a technician may be able to give you instructions.
The Garage Project (www.microsoft.com/en-us/garage)