Like many Southern Californians, I’m a big fan of Mexican street food: tacos, churros, bacon wrapped hot dogs, and especially the fruit salads. Usually served in a paper bowl wrapped in a plastic bag, the salads are combinations of fresh melons, mango, cucumber, and pineapple along with lime juice and chile pepper seasoning.
One of the novelties of getting fruit salad on the street is watching the vendors prep the fruit. With a sharp knife or two, they slice and dice the fruits and veggies effortlessly. I’ve seen many of the fruits prepped but I’ve never seen any one peel a watermelon. There’s almost always a big hunk of watermelon in the back of the cart, sitting on ice, peeled and ready to go.
Tonight Nicole asked me to slice a watermelon for her and, thinking of the mysterious peeled watermelon on the street carts, I decided to have some fun. Should be easy to peel a watermelon, right? Right! Well, mostly right. I wouldn’t suggest trying this at home. Go to a friends house and have them put 911 on speed dial in case you knick a finger or something.
I started with the melon on a cutting board and a big knife. I figured my paring knife “wouldn’t cut it”. Ha. Cutting a thin slice off one end of the melon gave me a place to start peeling. From there, I carefully peeled around the melon, just like I would an apple but on a much larger scale.
The process went smoothly with the exception of turning the melon with one hand while guiding the knife with the other. This situation became more difficult as I got closer to the end of the melon. At that point, it became less of a peel and more of a shaving session, as I hacked off the last bit of the rind.
In the end everything turned out as expected. I ended up with a nicely peeled watermelon, ready to be cut into cubes. As I put the cubes away I looked a the peel and starting thinking about recipes for pickled watermelon rinds. Hmmmmmmmmm….
Oh yeah, and what’s with the OMG Fact about watermelon in Japan costing hundreds of dollars? I feel so bad for them. If I was craving watermelon, I would easily go broke on a hot summer’s day in Tokyo!
Hundreds of dollars? If that were the case, there’d be no watermelon eating for us. Do the pickled rinds!
No Kidding! Watermelon is good but not _that_ good. 😀
I will be pickling some rinds soon. I know what makes a good melon — and being out of season, this one was not particularly good — but what makes a good rind!?!?!
You got something started here at the work place!! Now I have to make pickled watermelon rinds!! They never tasted them!! I used to make them all the time,remember?
PS: The thicker the rind the better for piclking, and eaiser to peel. Oh yea, you did a great job peeling!!!
Momma Jerrie
Yeah, you’ll have to make them some! I don’t want to start any trouble. 🙂
I’ll let you know how mine turn out when i make a batch.