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It’s watermelon season!
6/28/2007 |
 | | | Watermelon season last from May to September, but peak is mid-June to late August. There are several ways on how to select a great melon, as many use the thumping method. When thumping the melon, the melon should produce a deep, rich thudding sound. The skin should be dull and slightly waxy (many are waxed to shine), giving slightly to pressure, and the stem should be attached, brownish and dry. The round or oblong melon should be symmetrical without any flat sides, feeling heavy for its size. The underside where it lies on the ground should be a pale yellowish color, not white or light green.
After being picked a melon will ripen a little at room temperature but not much. Melons picked before their prime will never develop full flavor. Do not refrigerate a melon below 40 degrees.
If you are purchasing a cut melon, look for bright red flesh with dark brown or black seeds. Unless it’s a seedless variety, an abundance of white seeds means it was picked before its prime. Avoid those with white streaks through the flesh and those pieces where the flesh is mealy, dry and/or separating from the seeds. Cut watermelon should be wrapped tightly, refrigerated and used within a few days.
-Watermelons and health
One generous slice of watermelon (about 1/16th of a melon) contains large amounts of vitamin C and beta-carotene, which helps protect against various forms of cancer due to their antioxidant properties. Watermelon is also high in potassium, which helps regulate heart functions and normalize blood pressure. It’s a good source of fiber, which helps maintain bowel regularity and works to prevent colon cancer. Watermelon seeds contain cucurbocitrin to aid in lowering blood pressure and improve kidney function. The sweet watermelon surprisingly has only half the sugar content of an apple. It tastes sweeter because the sugar is its main taste-producing agent. Two cups of watermelon has only 80 calories, no fat, and no cholesterol.
-Many uses of watermelon
The most common way of consuming a watermelon is by simply slicing and eating it. Its refreshing sweet flesh is also wonderful as an ice or sorbet. A Southern favorite in the USA is making pickles from the watermelon rind. Watermelon is also an excellent choice for those with artistic flair who enjoy making edible sculptures.
In other countries watermelon is also popular. In Italy, watermelon pudding is a popular dessert usually made of watermelon, almonds, chocolate, and cinnamon. In China, they are often stir-fried and stewed. The Russians make a hearty beer from watermelon juice.
-Watermelon history
Watermelon’s botanical name, Citrullus vulgaris, comes from the diminutive form of citrus, referring to the color and shape of the fruit, and vulgaris meaning common or ordinary fruit. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out where its English common name, watermelon, comes from. The flesh of this succulent fruit is over 90 percent water. Native to Africa, it was a valuable and portable source of water for desert situations and when natural water supplies were contaminated.
Watermelons were cultivated in Egypt and India as far back as 2500 B.C. as evidenced in ancient hieroglyphics.
-Watermelon varieties
The more than five hundred varieties of watermelon grown worldwide give consumers many choices, with a wide variety of sizes, shapes, and colors to choose from. They are generally divided into icebox and picnic categories. The icebox category is so called because the size of the melons, ranging from five to fifteen pounds, allows them to fit more easily into the refrigerator. Picnics are larger, weighing from fifteen to fifty pounds, yet they can grow much larger. In 1991, Bill Rogerson of North Carolina won a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for his gigantic 279-pound watermelon!
We are most familiar with the vivid reddish-pink flesh dotted with black seeds, but there are also white-, pink-, yellow- and orange-fleshed varieties, both with seeds and without. Color, size and shape have little bearing on the flavor of the flesh between differing varieties. Seedless varieties are not truly seedless, but actually do contain tiny, white, edible immature seeds in lesser amounts than traditional watermelons.
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