[twangy music] You know what I love?

I love when a key ingredient gives me a great reason to fall back in love with it for all new reasons.

And that's what I'm gonna share with you now.

We all know about the joy of the inside of a watermelon.

Did you know there are things we can do with the outside too?

Yes, that rind is delicious.

And I'm gonna show you a two part recipe that is going to make you want to use the outside as well.

We're gonna start with a brine, a pickling brine, that is one part vinegar in a hot pan and an equal amount of water.

And into that granulated sugar.

And I'm going to let that cook just until that sugar dissolves.

Now for flavor in this delicious syrup, I'm going to add some strips of fresh lemon zest, some fresh ginger.

You don't even have to peel it, just slice it.

I'm going to put in three other spices.

What we have here is a mixed pickling spice.

Now you're gonna find this in the grocery store.

It's just called pickling spice.

And it's a beautiful blend of things like whole allspice and some clove and some bay, mustard seeds, sometimes some red pepper flakes.

And just by buying that one little jar, we're adding all of that flavor, that deliciousness, and an amazing aroma to our brine.

Some black peppercorns, and of course some salt.

Now I want this to come to a bit of a simmer.

And so as soon as the sugar dissolves, and you can tell that this is warm, 'cause that warmth is going to release all those spices, almost like making a cup of tea, we're gonna remove it from the heat.

And I am going to add one more thing.

And this is vanilla bean paste.

And I'm gonna let this stay warm, just a little bit, on low heat and show you what to do with this watermelon rind.

Now what I've done is, is I have taken away all but the thinnest little whispery layer of the pink.

[bright music] The pink is good to eat, but it's not good in a pickle.

So I'll leave a little bit for color, but not too much.

And we also don't want the very outside skin.

So all you need to do is to take a peeler and just take away that little bit of that outside part down until you're down to the peeled green part.

Once you've got it peeled, look, all you have to do is take your knife and make yourself some little cubes.

You don't even have to measure it.

You can eyeball it.

And look, I'm gonna add this to the bowl with my other bits that I've already cut up.

Last step, easy as can be.

I'm gonna put this warm brine over this.

Now, there's just enough warmth in this brine for the pickling action to begin without cooking my watermelon rind and turning it mushy.

I'm gonna let it sit here on my counter until it cools to room temperature, until I can feel it and I'm not perceiving any warmth.

Then I'm going to transfer this into jars.

My pickles have cooled off to room temperature and I'm gonna transfer them to the jars.

So I'm going to use my funnel and I am going to start by putting solids in the jar.

And you want your jars not cram full, but pretty full.

Take advantage of the space you have in the jar.

And then I am going to start adding liquid.

And I'm mainly now adding brine to top this off.

And you'll see when you think that the liquid is about at the top.

[bright music] And then I'm gonna take a chopstick and you really wanna work this down a little bit to make sure that there aren't any little hidden air pockets or anything.

All you have to do is close up the jar and stick this in the fridge.

Now let these guys sit for a day or two.

You can eat them tomorrow, but if you can give them three days or even a week, each day the flavor gets a little bit deeper, a little more pickling, and then they will keep beautifully in the refrigerator for a few weeks for snacking and for the recipe that I'm gonna show you next.

So this is part two of the great recipe that began with our watermelon rind pickles.

And it features even more rinds that I'm gonna turn into this colorful, crisp, amazing slaw.

Now it's gonna make quick work if you could shred your vegetables in a food processor.

If you don't have one, you can use a box grater or a sharp knife.

But what I've done here is put a very thin slicing disc in here and I'm gonna turn it on and drop my vegetables in.

I have our watermelon rind, I have got sweet bell pepper, I've got green bell pepper and some red onion.

And that's easy, just gonna feed it through.

And there we go.

Just that quick.

We're gonna salt these things.

So I'm gonna take our beautiful, colorful bits of veg, put it in a sieve sitting in a bowl to collect the drips and I'm gonna toss it with salt.

The salt is doing two simple, but important things.

One, it's seasoning everything, but it's also encouraging these vegetables to release their excess moisture.

And I'm just gonna let it sit for 15 minutes and the excess moisture will drip off leaving me crisp vegetables that are ready for the dressing that I'll show you next.

[bright music] So 15 minutes later I've got to show you what has happened.

Look at the amount of liquid that has come out of these vegetables.

Imagine if we left all that in there.

It would dilute all of our dressing.

So I am going to bring back some of our delicious pickles that we made earlier and they're gonna go right in there.

And then I'm gonna make a simple dressing.

I'm gonna take about a quarter cup of the watermelon rind pickle brine.

And if any of the little hard spices go in there, do take those out 'cause they provide flavor but they're too crunchy to chew.

And then I've got a couple of tablespoons of a neutral oil, something like canola oil.

And I'm gonna stir that together.

And just those two things is all you need for a dressing.

Now I'm gonna add quite a bit of black pepper, but I don't need any more salt because that salt that we put on the vegetables did all the seasoning that we need.

And we're gonna toss this up.

And just like that, you have watermelon rind slaw.

Now this is perfectly ready and completely delicious to eat right now, but if you have leftovers, I want you to put them in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

This is going to transform into almost a relish that you can put on a hot dog or a sandwich or on a plate.

Who knew that a good old watermelon rind, something we've been tossing away, could be the star ingredient in this amazing slaw and in a pickle jar?

Don't toss 'em anymore, eat 'em up.

[upbeat music] [bright music]