 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Dive into watermelon
By JANET K. KEELER, Times Food Editor © St. Petersburg Times,
A second loop around SeaWorld in Orlando on a steamy June day has done me in. Even the cool promise of the Wild Arctic exhibit does nothing to take the flush from my face. I need rejuvenation, and I spy it at Mango Joe's Cafe: perfect wedges of brilliant red watermelon. For $2.65 I grab a cup, snarfing a juicy chunk before I get to the cash register. Who cares if a 10-pounder is only a couple bucks more at the grocery store? "Oooooo, watermelon," coos the sticky woman at the end of the line, digging into her pocket for more money. "Man, that looks good." While sandwiches and salads sit snubbed on the cafeteria line, watermelon is picked up faster than a $20 bill on the sidewalk. When it comes to sheer cooling power, there's nothing in Mother Nature's garden better than watermelon. Its high water content (92 percent) and quick blast of sugar buoy both body and spirit. That's not news to the SeaWorld folks, who serve up nearly 16,000 pounds of watermelon a year. Just imagine how many pounds will be eaten at Fourth of July celebrations across the country today. An Independence Day party without watermelon is simply un-American. Never mind that America's quintessential summer fruit was born on the other side of the world. Watermelon originated in the Kalahari Desert of Africa, and the first recorded harvest was in Egypt nearly 5,000 years ago. Merchant ships spread the seeds to the Mediterranean, and the Moors brought the fruit to Europe. Today, China is the world's largest producer of watermelons. Southern food historian and author John Egerton (Southern Food: At Home, On the Road, in History, University of North Carolina Press, 1993) theorizes that watermelon was introduced to North America by African slaves. That may explain why two of the nation's leading watermelon growing states, Georgia and Florida, are in the South. The next two are Texas and California. In the '80s, Florida was the nation's largest producer of watermelon, with 45,000 to 50,000 acres dedicated to the crop. Acreage has fallen to a record low of about 24,000 in 2001, says Bob Blankenship, economic researcher with the state Department of Agriculture. The drought, which started in 1998, has driven some growers out, he explains. "Watermelon are temperamental," he says. "Too much rain and they swell up and split. They suck up water like a sponge." They also are not drought tolerant. As rainfall totals began to drop, farmers who didn't have irrigation systems quit growing watermelons, replacing them with crops that needed less water, such as pasture grasses and peanuts, and with livestock. Hendry County, south of Lake Okeechobee, is Florida's No. 1 watermelon county, with about 12,000 acres of melons this year. Hendry enjoys the longest growing season, late March until June, because of the early warm weather there. In fact, Hendry watermelons are the first to hit stores all over the country, which means growers there get top dollar for yields. This year, Blankenship says, Hendry growers were getting as much as 18 cents a pound in April, compared to June payoffs, which were about 6 cents. The cool spring in the Northeast hampered sales though, Blankenship says. "No one wants to eat watermelon when it's cool." Or with seeds, either. The demand for seedless watermelons is increasing, and this year, for the first time, Blankenship says, Florida acreage is split 50-50 between seedless and seeded varieties. "Ten years ago there was no seedless," he says, "and two or three years ago 20 to 25 percent of the growth was seedless." Personally, Blankenship likes seedless watermelon, but he has heard the rumblings that seeded watermelons taste better. There's no scientific proof of that, but still some people like old-fashioned watermelon better. Seedless watermelons, for all their convenience, have a definite downside, taste debate aside. Kindra McGehee, chief coordinator of the Newberry Watermelon Festival, experienced it last month at the city's annual toast to the watermelon. "We had trouble finding seeded ones for the seed-spitting contest," she says. "All the donated ones were seedless, so we had to buy ones with seeds." About 8,000 people attended the festival, one of no fewer than five held each year in Florida to honor watermelon by crowning queens, selling crafts and eating, eating, eating. (Other festivals are held are in Chipley, Monticello, Chiefland and Arcadia.) The first-place winner in the Newberry seed-spitting contest hit the 29-foot mark, not something he could have done with the white, empty seed casings of seedless varieties. (Inspired by his feat, I bought a seeded melon and managed to thwit a black seed from the kitchen into the dining room, nearly hitting my 5-year-old son sitting at the table. A mere 12 feet. Hardly the money shot, but the look on his face when he realized I was spitting seeds inside the house was priceless.) Growers have given us seedless watermelons, and Japanese farmers are messing with the shape of the fruit. It is cumbersome, I'll admit, to cut a big, wobbly watermelon. And don't you hate throwing away fruit because you can't cut close enough to the rind? For 20 years, Japanese farmers have experimented with growing watermelons in square, tempered glass blocks. The square watermelons are easier to slice and fit nicely in the refrigerator. They also cost $83 apiece. Hendry County growers will experiment next season with square watermelons, says Gene McAvoy, horticulture agent with that county's Cooperative Extension. Plastic, rather than tempered glass, forms will force growing watermelons into a brave new shape. No word yet on what price they might bring, he says. "Anything you can do to distinguish your product helps," McAvoy says. Square or oblong, seeded or seedless, watermelon remains summer's sweet reward. After hearing about the $83 melons, I don't feel so bad about paying $2.60 for several wedges. After all, they did save my life. Selecting a prime watermelonThere's nothing worse than buying a big watermelon that turns out to be a dud. The fruit is light pink, not deep red, and tasteless. That's going to happen sometimes. Remember, a watermelon is a product of nature, not a bag of potato chips mass produced for consistency. Watermelon must ripen on the vine; once it's picked, it stops producing sugar. Unlike with other melons, such as honeydews and cantaloupes, sniffing it does not help determine ripeness. Still, it's worth taking the gamble for the sake of both taste and nutrition. Watermelon is a source of vitamins A and C, potassium and fiber. It also contains lycopene, an antioxidant that helps reduce the risk of some cancers and age-related diseases such as heart disease and high blood pressure. Lycopene is also found in tomatoes, guavas and red grapefruit. Here are some tips from the National Watermelon Promotion Board on how to select a watermelon:
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times Taste section From the features wire |
