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Another Watermelon Rind Preserve

A historical recipe from La cuisine creole, by Lafcadio Hearn (1885).

A historical recipe

La cuisine creole: a collection of culinary recipes from leading chefs and noted Creole housewives, who have made New Orleans famous for its cuisine, by Lafcadio Hearn (1885). Project Gutenberg eBook #75027.

From an old book: a historical recipe, not current advice. Its methods, additives and storage may be unsafe by today's standards. Its words name: preserving or pickling, a substance or vessel no longer considered safe. Check current food-safety guidance before following this.

Also printed in: La cuisine creole (1885).

Source and licence

From La cuisine creole, by Lafcadio Hearn (1885). Digitised by Project Gutenberg, eBook #75027 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75027). Public domain in the USA; its status may differ elsewhere.

Read the original Public domain in the USA

What was changed: As printed, from the book's text; Project Gutenberg's header and licence removed. Ingredient lines were read out of the text by a program. A historical recipe, not current advice.

United States. Associated with United States by the book is about Louisiana Creole cookery (Cooking, Creole); the recipe itself names no place (confidence 0.4). "Associated with" means only that the evidence named here links this recipe to that place. A recipe isn't labelled as representing an entire country because a source associates it with one, and regional origins are kept where the source gives them.

  • Preserving. Old preserving methods may not make food safe to keep. Use current tested guidance.
  • Additives or old utensils. The text names something no longer considered safe in food or for cooking in, such as lead, alum, borax, bitter almonds or copper pans. Don't use it.

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Ingredients

Method

  1. In a bucket of cold water, put a handful of lime, stir it in, and when it settles clear, pour it over the watermelon rind you intend preserving;
  2. let it stay in the weak lime-water one day.
  3. Soak it a few hours, and get the taste of the lime from the rind, then put it in alum water and scald for ten minutes.
  4. Put grape-leaves in with the alum water while scalding;
  5. they will make the rind green.
  6. Take the rind from the alum, and put it in cold water for a few hours, and when cold, boil it in strong ginger tea until it is soft, and tastes of the ginger.
  7. Make the syrup of one and a half pounds of sugar to each pound of rind, and a half pint of water to each pound of sugar.
  8. Let it cook slowly, skim it, and when it looks clear, put in the rind, and let it cook slowly until clear and transparent.
  9. The rind should be cut into beautiful shapes, and preserved with care.
  10. This is a little trouble;
  11. but the housekeeper is amply repaid by the beauty of the preserve.