Simple recipe for Watermelon Rind Preserves shared

By Melba Lovelace

Published: September 10, 2008

DEAR MELBA • A reader requested a recipe for Watermelon Rind Preserves. This was in your column years ago. I've used it many times over the years. It's a very good recipe and fairly simple.

9 cups sugar

8 cups water

4 lemons, sliced

4 teaspoons stick cinnamon

4 teaspoons cloves

Green or red food coloring, optional

•Select watermelons with thick rinds. Peel off all the green and red portions, leaving only the white. Cut white part into small uniform pieces. Soak in mild salt water overnight, using ½ cup salt to 1 gallon water.

•Drain and cook in clear water for about 30 minutes or until tender. Drain well.

•Make syrup of the sugar, water and lemon slices. Add spices, tied in a cheesecloth bag. Boil 5 minutes.

•Add the white watermelon rinds to the syrup and cook until transparent. If desired, a few minutes before removing from the heat, add enough green or red food coloring to lightly tint the preserves. Remove spice bag and pour preserves into hot sterilized jars, filling to within ½ inch of top. Put on cap and screw band on tight. Process in boiling water bath 10 minutes.

Thelma Walter, Edmond

Wanda Gillaspy, Ada, shared a similar recipe that she has made and won ribbons with at the fair. She said she never added food color but left a very small amount of the red watermelon attached to the white, and it looked pretty in the jars. Others sharing included Mildred Kakony, Okemah; Mildred Boone, Tecumseh; Wanda Mitchell, Minco; and Nan Williams, Lew Holland, Alice Thomas, Dean Reid and Ann Perez, Oklahoma City.

DEAR MELBA • Many of us are upset that Kraft is no longer making Seven Seas Creamy Italian Salad Dressing. In a call to Kraft, the woman told me it was not popular enough. However, out here in western Oklahoma, stores seemed to have had a hard time keeping it on the shelves. I usually bought three to five bottles at a time. The woman I talked with said that perhaps if enough people called in and voiced their desire to bring it back, Kraft might consider it. If anyone else is as upset as I am, please give them a call at (877) 535-5666 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. CST Monday through Friday. Don't know if this will work or not, but it's worth a try.

Brenda Archer

DEAR MELBA • My mother has been making a decaffeinated coffee drink for more than 20 years using Postum. It's a Kraft product, and I understand Kraft has discontinued making it. Has anyone seen any on the shelves in Oklahoma City stores where I can get some for her before it's all gone?

David Neyman, City

DEAR MELBA • Please remind readers that Arapaho Elementary School would appreciate their Campbell's soup labels and box tops for education. We're buying playground equipment.

They can send them to me at Box 334, Arapaho, OK 73620.

Vayda Brown, Arapaho

DEAR MELBA • I would like to have some recipes using fresh pears, including muffins, breads, cakes, pies and chutney.

Sally Fitzgerald, City

DEAR MELBA • Mary Lee Gill wanted to know how to make the marinade for the fajitas served at Texanna Red's restaurant. It's very simple: lime juice and soy sauce.

K. LaFon, City

DEAR MELBA • Someone wrote about Ranch Burgers, and someone else shared, but I would like to share a different recipe that dates back to my grandmother.

•Place ground beef in bowl. Add enough milk to make it the consistency to spread easily. Add salt and pepper.

•Separate the tops from the bottoms of buns and spread a thin layer of the beef mixture on each part of the bun. Place the buns, meat-side-up on cookie sheet and broil on low until meat is cooked.

•To finish, just add condiments and vegetables that you would put on any hamburger.

This makes a pound of ground beef go a long way, and the meat is broiled, not fried.

Sherry Jones, Apache

DEAR MELBA • I would like a recipe for Oatmeal Broth that was on the oatmeal boxes years ago.

Lyndon

DEAR MELBA • Many years ago, my husband and I had the good fortune to eat at the Patio on Classen Circle. We especially enjoyed the Taco Caesar Salad and would love to have the recipe. Can you help us get it?

Pat Sonaggera, City

DEAR MELBA • What are wheat berries, and where do you find them?

A Reader

Wheat berries are whole unprocessed kernels and are sold in health-food stores.

Melba

WRITE MELBA: If you have a problem other readers might help solve or an idea you'd like to share, write to Melba's Swap Shop, Box 25125, Oklahoma City, OK 73125. Please include your name and address. Melba also can be reached by e-mail at mlovelace@oklahoman.com.

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