Watermelon Rind Bowl

[Justin Case]

well today I had an end cut of a watermelon, after eating the meat i noticed that I had a nice sized bowl, I decided to see if it would dry and harden in today's 115 degree heat, I cleaned it up a little and set it out in the sun, 20 min later i looked out to find a few chipmunks making lunch of it, :sneaky2: Now, 2 hrs later it looks like a shriveled up shower cap :sneaky2: Do you think it would have dried and hardened if the Chipmunks hadn't eaten all the rind out ? I was thinking it would dry hard like a gourd..

[hunter63]

Guess you will have to eat and try the other half, right?

Wipe the outside off with bleach, like you do with gourds, to keep it from molding, maybe?

[Justin Case]

Guess you will have to eat and try the other half, right?

Wipe the outside off with bleach, like you do with gourds, to keep it from molding, maybe?

the other half is already thrown out,, hmm,, bleach,, ok, Thanks ! I will try again with the next melon :)

[hunter63]

Well, actually, the "right" way according to these people:
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1630.html

Is wash with soap and water, then rubbing alcohol.

DW does a lot of painting of gourds, and other crafts.
I use them for natural water dippers.

[Justin Case]

Well, actually, the "right" way according to these people:
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1630.html

Is wash with soap and water, then rubbing alcohol.

DW does a lot of painting of gourds, and other crafts.
I use them for natural water dippers.

Thats a great link, Thanks H63,, :)

[rwc1969]

I wonder if it woulda boiled water.

[Rick]

Watermelons aren't gourds. They are....well....melons. They are in the same family but not the same thing. The rind of a watermelon is actually quite thin, much like a cucumber (same family, too). I doubt you would ever get a watermelon to dry.

[nell67]

What Rick said,watermelons are mostly water,once the water evaporates,there's pretty much nothing left to hold the rind together in any usable shape.

[Rick]

Try pickling it instead.

[hunter63]

One never knows till they try, I guess.
Someone had to try "Preparation A"?

Besides you might have to eat a lot of watermellons to try out options, not a bad thing.

That's ok, JC, lots of stuff happened because of..... "I wonder what would happen if..........?"

[Justin Case]

true, but what they say makes sense, the skin is really thin,, But what the heck, nothing ventured nothing gained,, :)

[crashdive123]

Well, if you ever get stuck in one, you can always eat your way out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3FlBC1fvqg

[Justin Case]

Well, if you ever get stuck in one, you can always eat your way out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3FlBC1fvqg

LOL,, it would have to be a bigger Melon than that :innocent: Thats cute though :)

[Rick]

Do you have any idea how big a watermelon would have to be?!

http://www.texastripper.com/luling/luling-watermelon-tower0286.jpg

[esp]

A better use for the rind, apart from pickles, is to cut them up in small pices , about 1' each, lay them out flat to dy in the sun, (covered with cheese cloth of course as critters love them,) then store them in a tight jar. Better yet, while we have electricity if you have a dehydrator, use that.

To use the dried watermelon rine, rehydrate them for a few hours in a little water, then add them to any stirfry , like a vegetable. Loads of good stuff for your body in those rinds, like antioxidants and vitamins.

you can also 'snack" on the dried ones without rehydrating them, kind of tuff, but will satisfy a hunger if need be.

[canid]

you could try reinforcing the rim with an internal band of some rigid material - maybe cedar or willow. i suspect that if it did not tear while shrinking, that would prevent much deformation.