Sorbet is so easy to make and doesn’t require special equipment, like an ice cream maker, so I freeze small batches throughout the summer as different fruit hits its peak in my garden, from rhubarb to berries. I occasionally grow enough watermelon to make the sorbet I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, but usually I have to buy the melon.

When I have plenty of options, I look for a whole small watermelon that isn’t seedless, because large, fully formed black seeds are easier to remove than the edible ivory seed coats that run down a seedless melon. But I primarily look for the ripest melon. In a recent article for Simply Recipes, I interviewed a watermelon expert about the biggest myths around watermelon ripeness and how to pick the best melon. You can get his tips here.

Learn more about choosing watermelon for sorbet and get the complete recipe for Watermelon-Mint Sorbet in my column.

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Twice as Tasty

Because watermelon stops ripening the moment it’s harvested, I try to use it the day I buy it—and to use every bit I can. The flesh we don’t eat fresh becomes the sorbet I shared this week. Excess juice becomes syrup or shrub, recipes I’ll share in next week column.

I don’t stop there. The rind is a significant part of the weight I’m paying for when I buy a watermelon, so I use that as well. Only the outer green skin and seeds go directly in my compost. I turn the white rind into two distinctly different pickles that I included in my pickling cookbook: Vinegar-Pickled Watermelon Rind, a sweet fridge pickle that retains a little of the red watermelon flesh and features warm spices, and Fermented Watermelon Rind, a savory, slightly sour pickle with garlic, mustard seeds, and dill. I served both recently at a cocktail and mocktail workshop while we were mixing beverages with watermelon syrup and shrub, and everyone was surprised by how different two pickles from the same fruit could taste.

I recently made a third variation from the fabulous, newly released Essential Food Preserving by Julia Skinner: Watermelon Rind Slaw. The Asian-inspired flavors are delicious on Crispy Pan-Fried Tofu tossed with bean thread noodles, sweet chili sauce, and fresh vegetables and herbs, as well as alongside Summer Rolls with Lime-Chili Sauce. Skinner is a master at preserving every bit of your harvest; I interviewed her shortly before her book’s release about her Asparagus-End Relish for Simply Recipes.

Here are just a few other recipes on the blog that use unexpected parts of a fruit or vegetable. You can find more in the recipe index.

• Balsamic-Roasted Radishes
• Corncob Stock
• Stuffed Squash Blossoms
• Grilled Tomatillo Margarita
• Frozen Strawberry Syrup
• Garlic Scape Aioli
• Pea Shoot Pesto
• Spiced and Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

You can also learn more about eating top to root in this blog post.

Want more Twice as Tasty recipes? Get my books! Click here to order a personally signed, packaged, and shipped copy of The Complete Guide to Pickling directly from me. I also share tasty ways to use pickles in The Pickled Picnic; it’s only available here.