Ode to Watermelon

Citrullus Lanatus 'Quetzali'

Doesn't that look yummy? It was. I wish we'd gotten more of them from our vines this summer. I don't think I'll ever get enough watermelon to satisfy my appetite for it though. Given enough of it, I'm quite sure I could eat it until my belly looked like there was one growing in there. I just love it.

I love the smell it has. It's like the air smells after a rain. It's like the smell of freshly cut grass.

I like how it looks. The smooth stripey green outside, the dense white layer of rind, and the pinky red flesh on the inside, polka-dotted with black seeds just invite you to smell and taste of its goodness.

I love the texture of its fruit. It's not chewy, it's not soft, it's not crispy, it's not gooey. It's sort of a soft, waterlogged crunch and that's the best part of eating it, besides the taste itself. Take a bite and you'll feel your mouth get flooded with its refreshing fruity juice.

And of course there is its delicious flavor. Even a watermelon that isn't quite ripe is still edible. Not as sweet, but still good. Of course, I have been known to eat well into the rind where the fruit has a bit of tartness to it. Some people pickle the rind and though I've never tasted it, I'll bet I'd like that, too.

Watermelon is good for you. It's low in calories, but high in Vitamins A, B6 and C. It has lots of lycopene, too. Only tomatoes have more. It's got a high level of potassium and of course, fiber. That makes watermelon a food that helps fight cardiovascular disease, cancer, high blood pressure, anxiety, and strokes. And it's delicious!

When I was a little girl, I used to sit on the cement cistern at my grandma and grandpa's house and eat a slice of watermelon simply by taking bites right out of it. No silverware was needed. I'd spit the seeds out right on the ground. I'm all grown up now and it's been a long time since I've eaten watermelon that way. Well, before I did it yesterday anyway.

Fun Facts

• Although it is botanically a fruit, it is a member of the gourd family and closely related to cucumbers, pumpkins, squash, zucchini, etc.
  
  
• Watermelon is believed to have its origin in the Kalahari Desert in South Africa.
  

• Watermelon is 92% water and is fat-free.
  

• In 1990, Bill Carson, of Arrington, Tennessee, grew the largest watermelon at 262 pounds; it remains on the record books, according to the 1998 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.

• Watermelon is the most popular flavor of Jolly Rancher's Candies.

• Every part of a watermelon is edible, even the seeds and rinds.
  
  
• Richard LeFevre holds the world record for eating Watermelon. He ate 11 1/2 pounds in 15 minutes.

• Cordele, Georgia claims to be the Watermelon Capital of the world.

Trivia facts from Sundia Corporation and Food Reference.

La Première Morsure du Melon

"Men and melons are hard to know." ~ Benjamin Franklin

The Charentais melon laid waiting for me in the midst of a tangle of vines. There were others, including watermelon babies, but this canteloupe looked different. It was pale yellow while its siblings sported a shade of gray-green. I looked at it for a bit, then contemplated whether it was announcing, "Pick me."

I thumped it. No hollow sound. Wait, that only works for watermelons. I tugged on it and it wouldn't let go without a fight. I sniffed it. Mmmmmmmm... Okay, that did it and I broke it from the umbilical cord holding it to its life support, which by now was a shriveling thread with the strength of heavy-duty fishing line. I wondered how nutrients and water could course through such pinched veins, but it's just one of the mysteries of plant life, and come to think of it, maybe that's why the melon was turning yellow.

Romie took it inside, poised it on the cutting board, and with one fell swoop of the knife, it was split and spilled forth guts of juice and seeds. What was left were two perfect halves of ambrosial sweetness. One for Romie, one for me.

I wish I didn't have to wait a whole year to have this summer treat, but Charentais melons (Cucumis melo var. cantalupensis 'Savor'), a French hybrid, have tender skins and don't transport well. Unless a local grower supplies the grocery store, you likely won't find them there. So we grow them ourselves. I don't know that I'd consider them far superior to the Indiana melons we're used to around here, but they're good enough that I'd recommend trying to grow your own.

Growing melons takes a lot of space, what with the extensive network of vines that results from planting them. We marked out a plot for them this year with a few treated landscape timbers that Romie scavenged from the steel delivery trucks at his work. Once the hills were planted, I laid lightweight landscape fabric over the growing area and cut out holes for the hills. This way, precious moisture would be slower to evaporate under it and the melons wouldn't have to sit on the ground directly and perhaps rot.

It was a good plan. We've got several canteloupe and watermelon working their way to our plates right now. It's always a problem for me to decide when they're ripe though. How DO you figure that out anyway? There's nothing worse than to pick an unripe melon and be filled with remorse over what might have been. Well, okay, there are worse things, but I hate it when that happens. It's such a waste.


I did find some guidelines for knowing when to pick canteloupe:

• The best indicator is smell. The melon's fragrance should make your mouth water. It's overripe if it has a strong musky smell.

• Look for a slight color change from gray-blue to cream, but don't wait for the rind to turn orangish; by then the melon will be overripe.

• The melon may slip (detach) from the vine and still taste good, but often it's overripe at this point. Normally, you want to pick a melon before it slips.

Johnny's Selected Seeds recommends examining the smallish, long-stemmed leaf attached to the vine at the same point as the fruit. When fruit is ripe, the leaf is pale.

Had that first canteloupe for breakfast this morning. It's as good as I remembered.