Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. When I was little, we would occasionally go the Bruce’s house for to eat watermelon and we didn’t throw away or compost the rinds. Mrs. William R. Bruce was a wonderful cook and she wanted the rinds to make pickle. As a southern condiment, this is one of the best. Old fashioned watermelons had a thick rind which was easy to peel and cut into small pieces; newer varieties don’t have this characteristic. Fortunately, a South Carolina heirloom watermelon written about by food historian David Shields of the University of South Carolina, has been rediscovered. The Bradford watermelon was considered the crème de la crème in the 1850 but its thin skin made it hard to ship and it wasn’t commercially viable and until recently it was thought to be lost to posterity. Search "Bradford watermelon, YouTube," to learn the rest of the story!
The Bradford Watermelon
