Peel the green rind and use the greenish-white flesh between the rind and the pink flesh.

Ok, hubby wins. I read it like I used the outside rind. Not very precise on their instructions. We had 3 watermelons and didn't think we could eat all of them before going bad.

So what are you doing with the flesh?

I'm going to try watermelon jelly and jam, plus we freeze it in chunks and then pull them out this winter and not allow them to thaw completely for snacks.

We do that with cantaloupes too when it's season, but I had 50 cantaloupe and sold all but 3. 1 gave away, too ripe for me (I have a friend that likes them super ripe) and 2 turned sour.

I was going to suggest watermelon sorbet or granitas! Just don't compost those rinds, bag them and trash them b/c of the SWD. Our compost is going to become poorer, no fruit or tomatoes at all now going in it. After I make juice for jelly I bag and trash the pulp.

I just dehydrated a 10-pound watermelon. Sliced 1/4 inch thick pieces, and took a day and a bit in my Excalibur Dehydrator. It's now all dried, and kinda crispy, and weighs almost nothing! ha ha. But it's good, and it was a fun project.

I'm going to make Watermelon Pickles as soon as I can find a watermelon with a thick enough rind. So many of the "newer" varieties are too thin to do a proper job. (Our local fruit market is growing some of their own, so I'm waiting for that variety.) That's something you have to look out for when you want to make W.P.: thick rind. Good luck.

those skins/rinds don't last around here, the critters eat them. I just have to put it far enough away to discourage them from coming close to house, luckily I have plenty of land. I've never heard of NOT composting them unless diseased.

Well, with this new fruit fly pest I'm not putting any fruit, rinds, or pulp out in the open for them to lay their eggs in - it'll just make it worse next year. Maybe if you buried it deep in the compost, but rinds take a while to break down and I'd not like to chance it.

They are only after the ripe fruit usually on the trees/shrubs. We haven't seen any yet, but they are supposed to be coming north. South of here is really worried about it. IL told us about them last year, but IN didn't announce anything until this year. I try to use every bit of everything I can.