Skip to content
Vegetables / Pickled in vinegar

Japanese pickled watermelon rind

Crisp white watermelon rind in a sweet-and-sour marinade with soy sauce and sesame oil. From Namiko Hirasawa Chen’s recipe at Just One Cookbook.

Recipe author: Namiko Hirasawa Chen · Just One Cookbook

Time
20 minutes prep + 2–3 hours chilling
Makes
6 side servings; made with about 803 g prepared rind
Season and ingredients
Fresh watermelon with a firm rind
Method
Quick refrigerator pickling
Jump to the instructions ↓Ingredients and their stories ↓Download printable PDF
Japanese pickled watermelon rind · Serving suggestion
Serving suggestion

Storage

Drain off the marinade, then refrigerate and eat within 3–4 days.

Instructions

Download printable PDF

Recipe card to download and print

0 / 4 steps completed

  1. Prepare the rind

    Cut the flesh away from a quarter of a watermelon, leaving a little red flesh on the white rind. Peel off the tough green skin. Cut the white rind into even slices, 6 mm thick.

  2. Mix the marinade

    Combine the vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil and any optional additions in a resealable food bag. Mix until the sugar dissolves.

  3. Marinate

    Add the rind, squeeze out as much air as possible and seal the bag. Gently massage the bag to coat the slices. Refrigerate for 2–3 hours or overnight.

  4. Drain and store

    Lift the rind out of the marinade and transfer to a separate container. Discard the marinade. Refrigerate the rind and eat within 3–4 days.

Tips

Contains soy and sesame. Most traditional soy sauces also contain wheat; check the label.

These are refrigerator pickles and must not be stored in the pantry.

How to serve

Serve with rice or grilled dishes, or enjoy as a small snack.

Ingredients / history / science

Discover the ingredients and their stories

What goes into the jar? Where does the flavour come from? Open a topic and explore its sources.

About the ingredientsA cucumber relative in a new role

Watermelon belongs to the gourd family, like cucumber and squash. Its pale rind is also used as a vegetable: the Watermelon Board describes stir-frying, braising and pickling it in China. This recipe uses the firm white part of the rind, with the tough green skin removed.

History on a plateAn idea older than “zero waste”

North Carolina’s archives hold a handwritten recipe for pickled watermelon rind from 1859. It records an old use for a part of the fruit that is easily discarded. Namiko Hirasawa Chen’s modern version uses Japanese seasonings: rice vinegar, soy sauce and sesame. One ingredient has many culinary histories.

A closer lookWhat the sweet and salty marinade does

Sugar and the salt in soy sauce encourage some water to leave the rind by osmosis, while dissolved flavour compounds can move into it. This changes the rind during marinating. The acidity is already present in the rice vinegar; it does not need to develop through fermentation.

Recipe sources

This recipe is based on the sources listed above.

Recipes

What will you make next?

Spiced Pickled Jerusalem Artichokes · Recipe ingredient: fresh Jerusalem artichoke tubers.01New / unusual
Vegetables · Pickled in vinegar

Spiced Pickled Jerusalem Artichokes

Crunchy tubers with turmeric and a sweet, tangy spiced pickling liquid. This tested recipe uses vinegar and boiling-water canning, rather than fermentation.

24 hours of soaking + about 60 minutes of preparation + 12–24 hours of cooling
Pickled cherry tomatoes with honey and dill · Serving suggestion02New / unusual
Vegetables · Pickled in vinegar

Pickled cherry tomatoes with honey and dill

Peeled cherry tomatoes in a sweet-and-sour pickling liquid with honey, garlic and dill. Adapted from Ann Low’s recipe, also published in Gourmet Living magazine.

50 minutes + 3 days in the fridge
Pickled green beans with horseradish and lemon · Serving suggestion03New / unusual
Vegetables · Pickled in vinegar

Pickled green beans with horseradish and lemon

Green beans pickled with chilli, horseradish and lemon, from Hege Marie Köster’s recipe in essen & trinken magazine.

30 minutes prep + 90 minutes cooking + 2 weeks maturing
Back to all recipes