Pickled Watermelon Rind

This recipe is partly from my mom's memory and some research on my part.

You will need:

A medium sized watermelon

1 package of pickling lime

1/2 gallon Apple Cider Vinegar

4 lbs. sugar

2 tablespoons salt (no iodine)

2 tablespoons pickling spices

Canning pots

Mason Jars, lids and rings

And whatever you feel is needed

• Mix lime with 1 gallon of water in a large pot. Stir occasionally until lime dissolves. 
• In the meantime, dice watermelon rind into cubes no larger than your pinky fingernail. As you can imagine, these will be tiny pieces but the effort is well worth all the time spent. Depending on you stamina, you should get 4 to 6 cups of rind.
• Rinse and pour into lime mixture. Since rinds are light weight, you will need to place a couple of dinner plates on top to weigh them down. Cover with a lid or dish towel and let stand for 24 hours. This is not an exact time limit if you go over, that's great up to 30 hours is just fine.
• Rinse rinds 6 to 8 times or until water is clear to remove lime mixture.
• In large pot add crushed ice to rinds. Allow to sit for 3 hours.
• While rinds are sitting in ice, mix 1/2 gal. of vinegar, 4 lbs. sugar and 2 tablespoons salt together. Sugar will take about 3 hours to dissolve. You will need to stir at least every 30 minutes. To this mixture at 2 tablespoons of spice which needs to be wrapped in cloth. I usually use muslin and a bread twisty for this step. So far there is NO cooking at this time.
• After the 3 hours are up, drain rinds thoroughly, then pour sugar mixture over top of rinds. This will need to sit for at least 12 hours but more time is just fine.
• Now comes the canning part. Make sure your jars, lids and rings are ready to go. You can read up on how to do that on the Internet.
• In a giant pot, bring water to a boil. This is your "bath" for canning.
• Bring rind/sugar mixture to a boil for at least 5 minutes, then reduce heat to a simmer.
• Using a scoop, pour rind mixture into mason jars. Wipe top of mason jar clean before applying lid and ring. Do this step until all rind mixture is used.
• Place jars into boiling pot and cover. Allow 15 to 18 minutes to process.
• Remove from "bath" and allow to cool over night.

This is how I do it and I hope I have given you enough information to help you in this endeavor. Please feel free to ask me anything if my wording is confusing or if you need more clarification. 

Good luck!!!