How can I reuse or recycle melon skin?
We’ve covered orange peel, banana skins and pineapple bits, what about melon rind?
During last week’s super-hot (for the UK) weather, John consumed a fair bit of watermelon – leaving slithers of rind behind after he’s eaten the flesh.
A quick Google reveals that after peeling off the green outside layer, the remaining rind can be candied or made into a spicy pickle. Chickens also like pecking at them (in the same way they do just about everything) and if nothing else, it can be composted.
But is there anything else? Can the rind – the tough outer layer – be dried and used like a leather?
Watermelon pickles!
I use the skins to clean my face before tossing. It is refreshing and gives good nutrients to your skin.
If you have a compost pit in your garden then you can dump it in there and let it turn to compost, if not I guess you need to put it into your decomposable garbage bin. Glad that you are thinking of recycling. Another resource that is scarce and needs to be conserved and recycled is water. Please visit http://tr.im/s6yN and loads of tips on how you can conserve and recycle water at home, office and school.
Moosewood cookbook says that melon rind can be used in homemade vegetable stock. Just don’t use too much of it!
I put my watermelon skins out for the wild deer that come looking for a refreshing snack. I cut them up into bite size pieces and put them out by the water and deer block. They eat the entire shells and love them!
Makes a nice snack for the wildlife in the winter. Just freeze them and save them for the deer in the months when food is hard to find. (Defrost them in the fridge before you put them out!)
They also like cantaloupe and honeydew skins as well.
Compost pile…? Put it back to the garden, make more watermelons. (:
Watermelon rinds are great sauteed with onions and papers. no joke.
i meant peppers. they’ve got to cook down a bit, maybe 5-10 minutes.
Watermelon is a treat for the wild bunnies in our yard. They love it. The rind, the flesh
whatever you leave for them will be eaten. ( Tucson, AZ )