Watermelon Lemonade Slushy

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Do you know what day today is?? Yes it's Martha Stewart's birthday, but do you know what else today is? National Watermelon Day! What perfect timing, 110+ degree heat advisories this week have left me with little desire to cook or eat much of anything. A watermelon lemonade slushy on the other hand, sounds like just the thing to beat the summer heatwave. So pull out your blenders and whip up a batch of slushies!

Watermelon Lemonade Slushy
Serves about 6
Ingredients:
4 cups watermelon, pureed and strained
4 cups  ice cubes
 2/3cup frozen lemonade concentrate
1 cup cold water

For an adult version: leave out the water and add 4oz. each of vodka and limoncello.  
 
Method:
Puree watermelon in a blender. Strain through a mesh strainer. (You can skip this step if you want, but it will be harder to sip through a straw if it's not strained.)
In blender on medium speed, blend together watermelon, ice, lemonade concentrate, and water until ice breaks down. Pour into glasses and enjoy!

Cheers Martha, but I'm celebrating watermelon today!

Mint Infused Watermelon Sorbet

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It's July, in lower Alabama, so long hot days are pretty much a given. However this summer has been a particularly hot one, even for those us that find temps in the mid-60's somewhat nippy.

 

 On days like these, a tall glass of sweet tea packed with so much ice that the tea just fills the spaces is almost all that I want. Ice cold, super sweet, running down your arms juicy slices of watermelon, is about the only other thing I can work up the motivation to eat. I got a really large watermelon from the framers market last week-end. Later that same day, a neighbor dropped by and gave me another watermelon. What to do with so much melon? Sure we could just slice it, pop it in the fridge, and stuff ourselves with watermelon till our bellies sloshed around from all the liquid. As fun as that sounds, I opted to use some of the watermelon to make a sorbet. I decided to infuse the watermelon with some fresh mint. What could be more refreshing on hot day than a big bowl of mint infused watermelon sorbet? Let me just tell you, this stuff is seriously addictive!

Mint Infused Watermelon Sorbet

(printable recipe)
Ingredients:
5 cups seeded or seedless watermelon cut into chunks
3 limes, juiced (about 6 tablespoons)
4 sprigs of mint
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. honey
1/8 tsp. salt
1-2 Tablespoons vodka (*optional)

Method:
In a food processor or blender, combine melon with half the citrus juice; process or blend until smooth. (You should end up with about 5 cups of liquid.)
Transfer to a bowl and set aside. In a small saucepan combine fresh herbs, sugar, 1 cup of the watermelon puree, remaining citrus juice, honey, and salt. Bring to boiling over medium heat. Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and let cool. Strain herb mixture into melon puree. Stir in the vodka if using. *(The vodka is just added to keep the sorbet from freezing too hard. A trick I learned when making David Lebovitz's strawberry frozen yogurt.) Cover and refrigerate 2 to 4 hours or in the freezer for about an hour.

Transfer chilled mixture to 1- to 2-quart ice cream freezer; freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. Remove sorbet from ice cream maker and place in a freezer safe container. Freeze the sorbet for about 2 hours.

Don't you want to dive in head first?

Watermelon Rind Preserves

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Watermelon is the quintessential symbol of summer for me. It brings back memories of childhood summer's past, sitting outside with a large slice, the juice running down my arms and dripping off my elbows, spitting seeds into the grass. Is there anything better on a hot summer day than a slice of sweet, juicy, ice cold watermelon? I don't think so! Although you can get watermelon year-round now, it's not the same in January. I recently got a fresh from the field watermelon at our local farmer's market. It was just an old fashioned, full of seeds, watermelon. It was everything a good watermelon should be, super sweet and juicy with a firm texture. As I ate a large slice of it (yes the juice was running down my arms!)I remembered seeing a recipe for watermelon rind preserves. The rinds are edible and have a surprising amount of uses! I've never made watermelon rind preserves before but they are very common through out the South. So this time rather than just throw out the rinds, I thought I'd give the preserves a try.
This recipe is a bit like making a sweet pickle. First the rind is soaked in a brine then cooked down in a sweet syrup.
It's great served with freshly baked bread or biscuits. These preserves have a nice gingery flavor that would be a perfect accompaniment for either chicken or pork. In the South it's most likely to be found on a relish tray and served as an appetizer.

Watermelon Rind Preserves
1/4 cup salt
4 quarts water
1 3/4 pounds (about 6 cups) prepared watermelon rind *see note
One 3/4 inch piece of ginger thinly sliced
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 small lemon thinly sliced (optional)

Combine salt with 1 quart water: stir until salt is dissolved. Place the rind in a bowl and pour the salted water over the rind. Let the rind stand at room temp for 5-6 hours.
Drain and rinse rind, and drain again. Cover it again with 1 quart of cold water. Let rind stand for 30 minutes, then drain again.
Place the rind in the preserving pan with one quart of water. Bring water to a boil and simmer over low heat until the rind is tender, about 15 minutes. Drain the rind in a colander.
Tie the ginger into a spice bag, and place the bag in the preserving pan. Add in the sugar, lemon juice, remaining quart of water and the lemon slices. Heat the syrup, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Add the rind. Simmer, uncovered, until rind is translucent, 1-1 1/2 hours.
Ladle the rind and syrup into pint or half-pint jars. Add lids and rings, and process the jars for 10 minutes in a boiling-water bath. For a complete guide to canning check out the USDA's site for guidelines.