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Dessert

Rind Preserves

A preserve made from watermelon rind, sugar, lemon, cinnamon, cloves, and pickling lime, cooked until tender and jarred.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Rind Preserves

Time15 minutes processing

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the rind

  1. Select watermelons with thick rinds.

  2. Cut off all green skin and pink portions, using only the white part of the rind.

  3. Cut into 1-inch cubes.

  4. Make pickling lime water by mixing 1 tablespoon pickling lime into 1 quart water.

  5. Soak rind in pickling lime water to cover, about 3 1/2 hours.

  6. Rinse several times with cold water. Continue rinsing until the water runs clear. Rinse at least one more time to remove all traces of lime.

  7. Cover with additional water.

  8. Cook until tender.

  9. Drain well.

Make the syrup and cook

  1. Make a syrup of sugar with 8 cups water.

  2. Add lemons.

  3. Tie the cinnamon and cloves into a piece of cheesecloth. Add the cheesecloth to the syrup.

  4. Let boil 5 minutes.

  5. Remove lemon slices.

  6. Add melon rind to syrup. Cook until transparent.

  7. Remove spices.

  8. Skim off foam.

  9. Let stand overnight or until cold to plump fruit. Stir occasionally.

  10. Reheat slices in syrup until boiling.

Jar and seal

  1. Pack into hot jars to within 1/2 inch of top. Wipe tops of jars clean. Seal.

  2. Process for 15 minutes in boiling water deep enough to cover the lids by at least 1 inch.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

131Calories
2 gProtein
1 gFat
35 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Watermelon1 cup diced (152g)46
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Limejuice of 1 lime (44ml)11
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Lime + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,289 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Lime + cinnamontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together470 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Lime + clovetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together909 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Watermelon rind
Provides the bulk of the preserve and, once cooked and syruped, a tender, translucent texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the preserve and, at high concentration, helps preserve the fruit and give it a syrupy body.
Lemons
Add acidity and aroma that brighten the sweet syrup and balance the rind's mild flavor.
Cinnamon
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavor to the syrup.
Cloves
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavor to the syrup.

The step that matters

Rinsing after the pickling lime soak. Lime left on the rind can make the preserve taste bitter or soapy and can affect texture, so the rind must be rinsed until the water runs clear and traces of lime are removed before cooking.

Swap the lime

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, lemon, cinnamon, clove):

  1. Orangefits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Limethe original
  4. Quincefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, lemon, cinnamon, clove. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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