Seven Ways to Use A Watermelon

By JEREMIAH McNICHOLS

After growing nearly 300 pounds of watermelon in a very productive melon patch last year, we had to get pretty creative to figure out how to use it. Here are some of the methods we found for making the most of this summertime fruit.

1. Watermelon ice cubes. A half-dozen of these in a tall glass of water makes a surprisingly refreshing, slightly sweet drink. The watermelon cubes cool the water like standard-issue ice cubes but impart a delicious watermelon flavor, and when the water is gone the cubes are thawed, leaving a juicy watermelon snack to fully sate the palate.

Using a melon baller, scoop watermelon in quarter-sized balls from all areas but the seed lines that run through the center of the fruit, placing as many of them on a baking sheet as will fit without touching each other. Cover with plastic wrap and repeat. Put the baking sheets in the freezer for a couple of hours, then remove and put the balls in more compact containers (ziplock bags, plasticware, etc.) when fully frozen.

2. Watermelon ice. In a blender pour 1 cup crushed ice, 2 tsp. sugar, 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/2 cup watermelon. Cover and blend until mixture freezes around the blades. Serve in sherbet glasses and garnish with cinnamon sticks.

3. Watermelon punch. Every frat boy knows how to make this, but it's good anyway: Cut a quarter-sized hole in the rind of a very ripe watermelon, a few inches from one end. Pour in anywhere from 1/2 to a full liter of vodka, depending on your tolerance and the watermelon's size. Stick your thumb in the hole, pick up the watermelon, and rotate it slowly to ensure distribution of the liquor. Cover the hole and put the watermelon in the fridge to chill for a few hours.

When you are ready to serve your punch, you have several options: You can prop the watermelon up vertically, add a plastic tap and have a self-serve shot dispenser; set the watermelon on its side, cut off the top, add crushed ice and a dipper and use the rind as your punch bowl; or slice up the watermelon into wedges and serve your drink in solid form.

4. Watermelon fruit leather. Remove the seeds from the dark, central core of a ripe watermelon and puree the fruit in a blender. Drain some, but not all, of the juice; drink. Spread the remaining juicy pulp on the plastic tray of a fruit dryer and dry at the recommended time and temperature for your fruit dryer.

Peel off the tray and cut into pieces of desired size or shapes on a cutting board. Cookie cutters with sharp edges work fine. Roll up in plastic wrap, and fix with rubber band or wrap again in aluminum foil. Fruit leather will keep for several months.

5. Watermelon jam. This amazing stuff tastes like watermelon Jolly Ranchers. It's great on toast or scones, in muffins, thumbprint cookies or kolaches, or as a filling for a white two-layer cake. All it takes to make it is 3 pounds of watermelon and 3 cups of sugar. The watermelon has sufficient pectin to gel without the need to add any, which makes this a true country jam.

Here's how to make it: Peel and seed the watermelon and dice the flesh. Put a layer of watermelon in a bowl and add a layer of sugar; repeat until all of the watermelon and sugar have been added. Cover and let stand in a cool place for four hours. Heat in a non-aluminum pot over medium heat, stirring frequently until mixture is thick. Skim off foam with a metal spoon if needed. When mixture is thick (about 45-50 minutes) ladle in to hot, sterilized jars. Makes 4 half-pints.

If you want to juice a lot of watermelon, it's more fun, and arguably easier, to stomp the fruit than to juice it by hand. You'll need four stations: One to wash feet, one to sanitize feet (using a homebrewing dish sanitizer), one to stomp the watermelon and one to pour out the juice. The juice can be used to make jelly (unlike the jam recipe provided here, it requires added pectin) or wine, and the pulp, supplied with a little juice, makes great fruit leather. Juice can be frozen in gallon ziplock bags: Fill bags half full, press air out, seal and lay flat on a baking sheet to freeze.

6. Watermelon wine. If you have never made wine before, watermelon wine is a tough place to start. Its sugar content is low, and must be supplemented and carefully monitored to ensure proper fermentation, and it spoils easily, making the fermentation window short. A grape or elderberry wine is recommended as a starting wine.

If you are familiar with making fruit wines, here's how you make it with a watermelon. For one gallon: Cut a large watermelon in quarters, remove all rind parts entirely and discard seeds. Cut fruit into cubes and squeeze through a nylon mesh bag; you'll need two quarts of juice. Pour into your primary fermenter and drop mash bag in with it, leaving all pulp in the bag. Add two quarts water, 1 1/2 lb. sugar, 2 1/2 tsp. acid blend, 1/8 tsp. tannin, 1 tsp. yeast nutrient and 1 campden tablet. Cover primary and let sit for 24 hours, then add 1 pkg. wine yeast. Recover. Stir daily and check the specific gravity.

When the ferment reaches SG 1.040 (3-5 days) lightly press juice from the mesh bag. Siphon wine off sediment into a glass carboy and cover with an airlock. When the specific gravity has dropped to 1.000 (about three weeks), siphon liquid off the sediment bed into a clean carboy and reattach airlock, cleaning if necessary. To aid in clearing siphon again in two months if necessary before bottling. (From Raymond Massaccesi's Winemaker's Recipe Handbook.)

7. A watermelon lantern. The trick to making a jack-o'-lantern out of a watermelon is in getting the fruit out. Here's how to do it: Cut the watermelon in half in a jagged line (Fig. 1). An irregular line is best; that way, the watermelon will only fit back together one way. Before separating the halves, draw a line with a Sharpie from one side of the cut to the other. Cut out the desirable fruit, then scrape away any extra pink from the walls of the rind.

The line you drew is your guide to the back of your lantern. Cut your face or other design out of the front side – eyes on the top half, mouth on the bottom is an easy way to go. Cut a quarter-sized hole out of the very top of your watermelon lantern to allow heat to escape. Drop a candle on a saucer in the bottom (you can carve an indentation to fit the saucer snugly, if you have a lot of time on your hands) and take your lantern outside. Light it and fit the two pieces back together. Voila! Now all you need is some off-season trick-or-treaters.