There are a few things that truly mean summer is here. Fresh corn on the cob, ripe strawberries and watermelon are just a few I always look to enjoy. So on my way home from a recent session I stopped and picked up a watermelon. The only problem was when I got home and cut it open, it wasn’t perfectly juicy and ripe… it was a bit grainy and overripe. It’s hard to pick a good watermelon, but this year it’s especially true since the whole crop took a hit because of all of the rain the south has seen.

While not inedible, a watermelon that’s not the right ripeness just is not that appealing. We were ready to feed it to the chickens (the love it) until we saw several watermelon recipes in the New York Times Magazine. It’s a highlight of every Sunday to get the paper and see how much we can read of it. The Times must know about the watermelon crop problems, because they featured multiple ways to use it – and we tried one of their drink recipes first without much success.

Sorbet looked like the way to go and is the absolute perfect way to use a not ripe / over ripe / sat in the fridge too long watermelon. It is amazing, and seriously I can’t say this enough. It’s sweet, the texture is smooth, and honestly it reminds me a little bit of ice cream – it’s that good. While it’s a simple trip in the blender or food processor, you have to freeze the watermelon first. Once blended, you can eat if it’s frozen enough or you can spread it in a shallow pan and let it harder further. The only issue then is that it loses it’s smooth texture, so you have to re-blend to get it back. We adjusted the recipe slightly and you can see it above – make your own version and seriously, go try this!