Candied Watermelon Rind

Total Time: 7 hrs Preparation Time: 4 hrs Cook Time: 3 hrs

Ingredients

• 4 cups watermelon rind, green parts peeled off and remainder diced (23.2 oz prepared)
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 lemons, zest of
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons vanilla
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 8 cardamom pods
• 6 szechuan peppercorns

Recipe

• 1 place watermelon rind in a deep pot and add the sugar.
• 2 cover and let stand at room temperature overnight (at least 4 hours) to macerate.
• 3 in the morning, bring to a simmer, stirring to thoroughly dissolve the sugar.
• 4 add the remaining ingredients, cover and simmer for 2 1/2 hours. cubes will be translucent when done.
• 5 uncover and bring to a boil. cook for 30 minutes, stirring often, to reduce the syrup to a thick caramel-like liquid.
• 6 while still hot, ladle into sterilized jars and process in a waterbath for 30 minutes (the original calls for turning the jars upside down for a minute to create a seal but to correlate with the us safety guidelines i suggest waterbath canning for shelf-storage. if you’re keeping it in the fridge, skip this part!).