Last we posted a food recipe, we were in chunky sweaters mashing purple potatoes for our purple gnocchi recipe. Since then, the snow has well melted and we are in full summer mode! One of our favorite summer fruits, watermelon, is in season. We love watermelons for their color, hydration, sweetness, and flexibility in cooking. Many people have gotten super creative with ways to incorporate watermelon in unconventional ways in their cooking. From using it as an alternative to raw tuna to making relish from the rind, there are endless uses for watermelon. In this post, we will share how we decided to use our massive watermelon- from sweet to savory.

Farm to table: Watermelon Fun

Before we can get to chopping up and getting creative with our watermelon, we first have to pick the right one from the market. We went to Accord Market to find our first watermelon to celebrate summer. I always grew up watching my family look for watermelons with orange spots and webbing- the beauty behind the imperfections. Sometimes I even give the watermelon a knock and listen for a full sound compared to a dull or deep sound. All of these tips are to find a sweet and ripe watermelon.

Once we pick our watermelon and bring it home, the next battle is cutting up the massive fruit. I always find it quite a workout, especially if your knife isn’t all that sharp. I would recommend sharpening your knife and being wary of where your non-chopping hand is; we don’t want any emergencies in the kitchen! Each idea on how to prepare a watermelon may require different ways of cutting the watermelon. Sometimes it can be intimidating to cut up such a large fruit, so start off with half of the watermelon to start. For our first half of our watermelon, we made a watermelon syrup.

Watermelon Syrup

As you may know, we love making fun cocktails and thought what a better way to add some sweetness and unique flavor into our cocktails than making a watermelon syrup. Making syrups are quite simple, all you need is your fruit and sugar.

Ingredients

• watermelon (16 oz)
• sugar (8 oz)

For our watermelon syrup recipe we chopped up some watermelon into a bag (you could use a jar too) and poured about half of the weight of the chopped watermelon and sugar into the bag. We then gave it a little massage and then placed it into the fridge overnight. It’s best to let the syrup sit for around 12-24 hours so that the sugar can break down the fruit and thicken.

After 12 hours, use a strainer to separate the watermelon chunks from the syrup. Don’t throw out the watermelon chunks! They’re delicious with a bowl of yogurt.

After separating the syrup, store the syrup in a glass jar and keep it in the fridge. Now that we’ve made the syrup, the possibilities are endless! The best part about this syrup is that it can be added to most drinks and will always turn your drink pink!

Watermelon Bourbon Smash

It’s time to put our fresh watermelon syrup to use! As you know, we are a big fan of bourbon in our cocktails so there’s no surprise here that we’re making a bourbon smash.

 Ingredients

• 2 oz bourbon- we used our favorite Hudson Whiskey Bourbon 
• 1/2 oz lemon juice
• 1/2 oz lime juice
• 1 oz watermelon syrup
• 3 dashes of orange bitters- you can use any fruit bitter like peach or grapefruit

All you have to do is combine all of the ingredients into a shaker or jar full of ice and shake until the shaker is cooled then strain into a glass. An optional choice of garnishing with watermelon or lime adds a fun accent. We used some leftover chopped watermelon from the fridge which kept the drink cool.

Watermelon Mint Refresher

For our non-alcohol drinkers, a very simple recipe is a watermelon mint refresher.

Ingredients

• watermelon
• ice
• mint
• watermelon syrup (optional)

This recipe is fairly simple to eyeball since none of the ingredients will really overpower one another. All you need is a blender to combine everything. I put enough chopped watermelon to fill 3/4 of my blender, a handful of fresh mint leaves, and a handful of ice. You can even add an oz of the watermelon syrup for a sweeter drink. After blended, you have a refreshing and hydrating beverage!

Watermelon, Tuna, and Avocado Salad

One of our favorite ways to eat tuna is with avocado, whether that’s sushi-grade tuna or a grilled tuna steak. Adding a little bit of sweetness in the bite to balance the salty soy sauce is a fun way to switch up the dish.

Ingredients

• tuna (sushi grade or steak)
• avocado
• soy sauce
• watermelon
• lime or lemon juice
• sesame oil

With either cubed raw tuna or cut up seared tuna steak, plate with avocado cubes and watermelon cubes, add soy sauce, a drizzle of sesame oil, and lime juice to taste, and mix. We got our sushi grade tuna from Montauk Catch Club. For more color and texture, we plated our salad on top of a piece of purple lettuce.

Other Recipes

While we still have some watermelon left over, nothing beats having watermelon just on its own. Here are some other recipes we’ve been thinking about checking out:

• New York Times: Watermelon Salad with Fried Shallots and Fish Sauce 
• Cocktail Contessa: Watermelon Mojito
• Cocktail Contessa: Watermelon Gimlet
• TLMorrow: Watermelon Rind Candy

We hope this post has inspired you to use watermelon in a new way this summer! Not only does watermelon keep you refreshed, but it brings color into your cooking – enjoy and remember to shop local!