Food - Drink
Stop Throwing Out Your Watermelon Rinds
By JOHN J LEE
According to PELA, the rinds of watermelons can make for wonderful compost, and their high water content means they break down relatively quickly. Cutting the rinds up and tossing them onto your compost pile is a quick and easy way to get some supercharged fertilizer, but the real money is in the nutrition that the watermelon rinds can provide.
Watermelon rinds are high in fiber, which aids in digestion and subsequently helps regulate blood sugar and cholesterol levels, and they are also a good source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, potassium, and magnesium. Eating watermelon rinds has also been shown to reduce blood pressure, due to their high levels of citrulline.
Although you can technically eat the watermelon rind as-is, there are other ways of preparing it, such as homemade pickled watermelon rinds, a favorite of many in the southern United States. These pickles taste fresh and pair nicely with most finger food, and you can also juice or blend the watermelon rinds to give your summer drinks some subtle watermelon flavors.
