Watermelons make summer delicious. From drinks to desserts or just eating on their own, watermelons are tasty and the perfect summertime treat. People carve watermelons, and soak them with liquor, and now behold the watermelon keg!
Just thinking about the many possibilities of a watermelon keg makes my mouth water. Make a watermelon keg with your kids or for your next party.
Materials
1 medium-large oval or oblong watermelon (seeded or seedless)
Kitchen knife
Cutting board
Green dry erase marker or ¾”-1” thick painter’s trim tape
Channel knife (can use top of a vegetable peeler as alternative)
Large bowl & spoon or scoop
Apple corer
Spigot (from beer making supply company)
Twine & straight pins
Watermelon juice or punch recipe
Instructions
- Wash the watermelon under cool running water and pat dry.
- On a cutting board, place the watermelon on its side and cut off 1/4”-1/2” from both ends, being careful not to cut too deep into the white part of the rind. One side will provide a sturdy base.
- Use dry erase marker or painters tape to make a thick band on the upper 1/3 and lower third of the watermelon that will represent the metal bands around a barrel or keg and use the channel knife to trim away a thin line to represent those metal bands.
- Hollow out the watermelon with a spoon or scoop, reserving the watermelon pieces to make your favorite punch or juice. Be sure to leave about 2” of watermelon flesh towards the bottom of the watermelon so the spigot can be placed.
- Use an apple corer to cut a circle for your spigot to fit through the watermelon rind, placing it about 2-3 inches above the bottom of the watermelon. Screw your spigot into place.
- For added detail, carefully pin twine in your lines you’ve made to represent the metal bands around the barrel/keg. Be careful that the pins do not poke through into the barrel/keg.
- Place the barrel/keg on a saucer or plate and fill with your favorite chilled punch, booze or juice recipe.
Recipe from the National Watermelon Promotion Board. Wow, have they got a lot of information about watermelons. Want some more things to do with watermelons? Here are some recipes to make a watermelon margarita, a tomato watermelon gazpacho soup, a watermelon cucumber salad and a watermelon ice cream cake.
WTF? Picnic pants: the pants that are also a table
Sounds amazing! The only question I have is how do you hollow out the watermelon? I get that you use a spoon, but I’m unsure where to hollow it out from? Do you cut the top more?
You want to hollow it out from the top. Here’s how I did mine in a bit more detail. I actually made TWO cuts on the top. One thin slice to give it the “keg” look, then another to create a lid to keep out pesky critters. I used a knife and cut down squares (away from the sides!) into the watermelon and scooped some out, and repeated, thus creating nice easy to remove chunks. You will find though that you don’t really need to do that, just using a spoon works great. We made a “big kid” drink inside… margarita! I left a little extra watermelon at the bottom, so that when we were done, I cut the melon in half and we had some tasty tequila soaked tidbits to help during the cleanup. Hope that helps!
P.S… If you don’t have an apple corer for the spigot hole… use a power drill :D
This is such a neat idea.. I am looking forward to trying it at my next boozy party