Watermelon Rind Kimchi

*Waste not, want not.*

After eating that sweet watermelon, don't throw the rind away! It's still good for a crunchy, delicious side dish. Most people know kimchi as it is made of cabbage, but you can use other things, and watermelon rind is particularly delicious.

In addition to a watermelon, you'll need the following ingredients for making this recipe. Measure the following. You may need to adjust depending on your taste, ingredient potency, and amount of watermelon rinds. I used a medium-sized watermelon with a fairly thin rind.

Step 1: Prepare the Rind

I used a melon scoop and then a soup spoon. Remove ALL the pink flesh. If you leave any behind, it will make your kimchi soggy. Now do either of these methods to remove the rind. If you have a good peeler, 1 will yield slightly more rind.

CUTTING METHOD 1

1. Peel the skin off the rind

2. Cut the pieces.

CUTTING METHOD 2

1. Spiral cut the melon into strips.

2. Filet the rind off the skin.

Now, cut them into approx 1 1/2" or 5cm pieces. Put them in a bowl and toss with 2 tablespoons of coarse sea salt. This will help draw out the moisture. After tossing, transfer the rind to a colander to drip dry, or drain the bowl every 15 minutes.

Let sit for an hour. Meanwhile, prepare the ingredients in the next step.

Step 2: Prepare Flavourings

Chop one onion into medium size pieces.

Grate 1" of fresh, peeled ginger. (Tip: peel off the skin with a spoon)

Chop approx 6 green onions. Here I have used a mix of garden fresh and frozen.

Mince garlic. I used about a tablespoon, but you would probably use about 6 cloves.

Sweetener. You could use honey or agave syrup. I wanted traditional Koren ingredients and used about 1/4 cup of sweet Plum Extract.

Gochugaru (korean chili powder) is highly potent. One tablespoon should be enough, or 1 1/2 tbsp if you are higthly tolerant. Adjust if you are using chili from different regions. (A word of caution: try not to touch this powder with your bare fingers.

Step 3: Live and Let Live

Thoroughly drain the bowl of rind.

Add in all the ingredients. Mix with your hands, wearing rubber gloves (or use spoons if you have no gloves).

The penultimate step is to do nothing. Cover the bowl with paper towel and let it sit at room temperature for 24 hours to get the fermentation going. After 24 hours, put everything in a mason jar* or other rightly sealed container, and refrigerate. This will keep for a long time, but it continues to ferment, so the flavour will gradually change.

Enjoy!

* Instructables user IamGutter kindly reminds us that a sealed glass container is not able to expand, and could shatter if this was left sealed to ferment for a long time. Take note and use plastic or open occasionally for a snack :)

Comments

[IamGutter]

This looks delicious! I tried several kinds of kimchi when I lived in Korea and always preferred straight cabbage kimchi, which is the only kind I currently make, but this looks very interesting and I plan on trying it.

One word of caution: whenever fermentation is happening it produces a byproduct of carbon dioxide gas. This will not pose a problem if you open your container often to enjoy your kimchi but if left for an extended period of time in a tightly sealed container it could build up enough pressure to break the glass. Highly unlikely but a possibility.

Thanks for the great Instructable!!

[DIYJRAY]

Thanks for the note! I have added a footnote to the last step. Fortunately I've never had this problem since I can't wait to eat these things :)