The watermelon, a simple everyday fruit that. Either the fruit or the juice is a cool refreshing option on those hot summer days – or lazing beside the pool.
The watermelon’s origins are much unknown, many theories are held around the world but the big contender is that this fruit is thought to originate in Egypt around 4000 years ago.
Let’s discover some fun things all about watermelons.
1. Watermelons come in 1200 varieties.
To make classification a little easier, however, watermelons tend to be grouped into four main categories: seeded (or picnic), seedless, icebox (also known as mini, or personal size) and yellow/orange. One of the most popular varieties is the Crimson Sweet, a seeded melon with deep red, sweet flesh. Some of the more unusual varieties include the Golden Midget, whose rind turns yellow when it’s ripe, and the Cream of Saskatchewan, whose flesh is cream-colored.
Over 300 varieties are grown in the U.S. alone.
2. Seedless watermelons are not genetically engineered.
Contrary to what you might have heard, seedless watermelons are the result of hybridization, a perfectly natural phenomenon that farmers can nevertheless capitalize on.
A couple of decades ago, seedless watermelons were hard to find, but today they make up around 85 percent of those sold in the U.S. And those white “seeds” that you still find in your seedless slices? They’re actually empty seed coats and are perfectly safe to eat.
3. Watermelon is both a fruit and a vegetable.
Thanks to their sweet taste, watermelons are commonly considered a fruit. And they do grow like fruit, originating from flowers that have been pollinated by bees, and, from a botanical perspective, they’re fruits because they contain seeds.
But many gardeners think of them as vegetables, since they grow them in their gardens alongside other summer veggies like peas and corn.
Technically, watermelon is classified as part of a botanical family of gourds that includes other culinary vegetables like cucumber, squash, and pumpkin.
Whether you think of watermelon as a fruit or a vegetable, you’re correct.
4. There are many watermelon world records.
The most expensive watermelon ever sold was a Densuke, auctioned in 2008 for a staggering Y650,000 JPY or $6300 USD it was one of the first harvested in Hokkaido, Japan.
This Japanese fruit is pure black and averages a price of $250 USD per fruit!
In 2014 Japan’s obsession with auctioning this fruit for extortionate prices continued with one specimen from Toma, Hokkaido being sold for Y350,000 JPY or $3000 USD.
Watermelons always seem to be the go-to fruit for any chopping, smashing, slashing, or squeezing demos and there are an array of world records for doing just that.
In 2014, Olga Liashchuk crushed 3 watermelons with her bare thighs in 14.65 seconds, and in 2006 Leonardo D’Andrea smashed 10 watermelons with his head in 16 seconds, both securing Guinness World Records for their efforts.
In 2013 in Tennessee USA, Christopher Kent set the Guinness World Record for the largest and heaviest watermelon in the world, weighing an unbelievable 350.5 lbs (159 kg).
To put this in perspective the average watermelon weighs in at 25 lbs (11.33 kg) so Chris’ specimen was 14 times heavier!
5. Watermelons have been involved in crime and national security!
In 2014 a man was allegedly arrested after his partner felt threatened when returning home to find a watermelon stabbed with a butcher’s knife.
The woman who had recently attempted to turn the man in for drug offenses following the discovery of marijuana came home to find the impaled fruit and felt it was left there to intimidate her.
The suspect came in and apparently started cutting up the fruit, he was later bailed.
Watermelon wreaked havoc on Israel’s security!
A Palestinian man was refused entry to his home in Hebron in June 2016 after he tried to cross a closed military zone with a watermelon.
The man, melon in hand, wanted to enter the zone to go home was told by 25 Israeli soldiers he wouldn’t be entering, and was made to stand there for 4 hours awaiting a decision to let him pass.
6. Watermelons have different uses around the world.
Watermelons can be kept edible for months if kept in the right conditions, the Egyptians, and many other cultures, cultivated this plant just for this very reason.
With water being so short, and watermelon being over 92% water, the fruit could keep fresh and utilized during times of drought by smashing it to a pulp and drained.
While we tend to focus on the melon’s succulent flesh, watermelon rinds are also edible—as well as full of nutrients. In China, the rinds are often stir-fried or stewed, while in the American South, cooks like to pickle them.
Watermelons, and in particular their seeds, are held highly across Asia for their flavor and are often a vital part of celebrating national holidays.
In China, the seeds are eaten during the Chinese New Year and in Vietnam during their New Year celebration Tết, the seeds are a tasty snack.
7. Watermelons are incredibly healthy.
The watermelon contains over 92% water, this level is the same as that found in the human brain and this means the fruit is recognized as one of the best in the world for hydration.
Watermelons are a medicinal marvel supposedly helping in an array of different ways.
The juice can reduce muscle soreness as it contains Citrulline which lowers blood pressure, it can improve eyesight and eye health as it’s so high in Vitamin A, and due to the high concentration of Lycopene, a phytochemical, it can lower the risk of cancer.
8. Farmers in Japan have perfected the art of growing square watermelons.
In Japan, farmers have been growing cube-shaped watermelons for the past 40 years, forcing them into their square shape by cultivating them in box-like braces. When the watermelon fills the cube and gets picked, it’s generally not ripe yet, meaning the inedible melons are sold—for prices upwards of $100—as novelty items and gifts. (The original idea was for them to better fit into standard refrigerators.)
More recently, farmers have grown watermelon in the shape of hearts, pyramids, and human faces.
9. Watermelons are the state vegetable of Oklahoma.
In 2007, the Oklahoma State Senate honored its then-14th biggest crop by voting 44–2 to make it the state vegetable. (Why not fruit? That distinction was already given to the strawberry.) Its celebrated status was threatened in 2015, however, when State Senator Nathan Dahm moved to repeal the bill based on the argument that watermelon is a fruit.
Thanks to Rep. Joe Dorman, who represented the town of Rush Springs—the site of an annual watermelon festival—Dahm’s bill died in committee.
10. A South Carolina family has grown an heirloom variety of watermelon for almost a century.
The unusually sweet Bradford—created by Nathaniel Napoleon Bradford in Sumter County, South Carolina, in the 1840s—was one of the most sought-after varieties of watermelon the South has ever seen. But its soft skin made it hard to transport, and by the early 1920s it had proved to be commercially unviable. It would have disappeared completely had the Bradford family not kept it alive in their backyard gardens for multiple generations.
It’s now being grown commercially again by Nat Bradford, Nathaniel’s great-great-great grandson.
Whether you hate it or love it, one thing’s for sure, the watermelon really is a huge hit worldwide.
So, enjoy…