When Life Gives You Watermelon Rinds, Pickle Them!!

It is watermelon season here in Navojoa. I do like watermelon, what I don't like is giant dripping halves of various melons in my refrigerator leaking on to the shelves and out the door. My husband likes watermelon too but instead of cutting one up and keeping it in a tupperware he chops them in half (leaving a sticky mess on the counter of course) and eats it with a spoon putting the other half in the fridge. And if he happens to get a not so great melon he just leaves the other half in the refrigerator until I magically make it disappear. When I was growing up there was only one way of consuming watermelon that I was familiar with. That was cut up (preferably with hot dogs, potato salad, or chips, etc.). However, here you can eat it cut up, with chile and lime, have it as an agua fresca, or frozen. And I am sure there are more ways of eating it.
Well, when that first giant green oozy mess appeared in my fridge this year I decided that I would have to make my peace with it. Then I remembered Christmas and Thanksgiving. On those holidays there would always be a relish plate on my mom's table and that plate always had pickled watermelon rind. It is a tangy, sweet, texture challenging food. I loved it. So I decided to try my hand at pickling (the refrigerator kind not the canning kind). I even had a giant Ball jar from one of Jose's olive purchases. They turned out great. And it is funny because watermelon is so akin to summer but when I eat a piece of the pickled rind I am transported to November/December. I guess Pollyanna was right, you just have to look for the good in something ;)