Mention the word pickle and most folks logically make an association with the cucumber. It just isn’t kosher to even think of pickling something as large as a watermelon. Yet, as I will prove, there can be a connection between the watermelon and pickling to produce something with a somewhat unusual taste. So once again I’m featuring watermelon pickles with a more local angle.

One of my recollections of early life with a grandmother actually involves watermelon pickles.

A watermelon has three or four colors. We eat the red part and avoid the black parts (seeds, unless it’s the seedless type), and throw away the white and green parts. The white part is the rind. And that’s the part my grandmother pickled. To her way of thinking, throwing away the rind was just wasting potential food.

To prove that my memory of once eating pickled watermelon rinds was correct, I checked over a booklet of tested recipes issued by Albert Lea’s First Lutheran Church in 1946.

This booklet actually had three recipes for watermelon pickles. One recipe had been contributed by Mrs. Milford S. Knutson, wife of the pastor. And here it is:

Boil rind from good sized melon in two quarts of water and two teaspoons salt. Boil one hour. Add to syrup and boil until transparent. The syrup consists of six cups white sugar, eight drops cinnamon oil, eight cups vinegar and eight drops oil of cloves. Add water if syrup doesn’t cover.

The second, somewhat more complicated watermelon pickle recipe was from Mrs. Albert E. Anderson:

Soak rinds of one watermelon overnight in water with 1/2 teaspoon alum. Drain. Cover with fresh water and boil till tender. Add one cup vinegar. Drain rinds and drop into syrup made as follows: seven cups sugar, one cup white Karo syrup and one quart vinegar.

Let stand overnight. Repeat this three mornings, boiling syrup each morning and pouring over pickles. Fourth day add five drops oil of cinnamon and five drops oil of cloves. Boil pickles 15 minutes last morning. Seal hot in jars.

The third recipe for pickled watermelon rind in the booklet was contributed by Mrs. A. W. Schultz and is rather similar to the other two versions.

None of these recipes indicate that the green part, or skin, of the watermelon should be cut off and discarded. Also, the rind should be cut into smaller pieces. This is the way my grandmother did it to make watermelon rind pickles.

While I was looking through the 1946 First Lutheran recipe booklet, another of grandmother’s alleged taste treats came to mind. Would there be a recipe for chow-chow? The answer was yes-yes.

The word chow is synonymous with food. Thus, chow-chow could be food-food. From this word we also have chow hound (hungry soldier, marine or sailor), chow mein and chowder.

Now here’s the chow-chow recipe, courtesy of Mrs. James Hansen in 1946:

One peck green tomatoes, eight large onions, 1 3/4 cups sugar, ten green bell peppers, three tablespoons salt, six hot peppers (red ones), one quart vinegar, three tablespoons mustard and 1/2 cup horseradish (optional).

Bag of spices consisting of a few bay leaves, 1/4 teaspoon cloves, one tablespoon cinnamon and one tablespoon allspice.

Chop-chop tomatoes, onions, peppers together and cover with salt. Let stand overnight. Drain, add the vinegar and spices. Allow to boil slowly until tender (about 15 minutes). Pack tightly into sterilized jars and seal.

There’s absolutely no Chinese connection with this food concoction which could qualify as a relish. However, the dictionary says chow and/or chow-chow also refers to a type of dog which originated in China.

By the way, the use of chop-chop in the chow-chow recipe is based on my attempt to add a little humor to an older way to make food-food.

(Tribune feature writer Ed Shannon’s column appears Fridays in the Tribune.)