After all, it’s been around over 5,000 years, originating from South Africa as a flowering plant, and is cultivated worldwide today with the top four colors being red, pink, yellow and orange. There are over 1,200 varieties, but in the U.S., around 300 varieties are commonly grown. They are 100 percent edible, fruit, seeds and rind, in a myriad of ways. It is a fruit AND a vegetable, and is the MOST popular summer fruit, sometimes called ‘The queen’, and it is related to cucumbers and pumpkins (but don’t plant them next to each other!).  Watermelons are 92 percent water, and ancient explorers used them as canteens. Full of important vitamins, minerals, and water, it’s a very healthy and satisfying fruit, low in calories and fat. There is even a 3-day watermelon detox cleanse, but they warn only 3 days!

Sunday, August 3rd is National Watermelon Day, so get ready! Picnics, BBQs, county fairs, festivals, church bazaars, the beach, farmers markets, parties, watermelon fights, then the sprinkler! Eat it, drink it, play IN IT. Fourth of July watermelon eating contests are fun and messy.

And there are so many ways to enjoy this versatile and delicious fruit; chunks, slices, balls, juice, cocktails, and then there is the salt or no salt debate, the debate over seeds or seedless (strong opinions on these topics), round ones or oblong? I like the seeded ones, no salt, sometimes dried mint leaves sprinkled on top. You can also grill it, make popsicles, salsa, pickle it, desserts, soup (gazpacho), and salads. A super salad has fresh spinach, basil, mint, cilantro, purple onion slivers, chunks of watermelon and feta cheese; very colorful, healthy and delicious.

So, how do you select a sweet watermelon?  It is a gamble, and you hope to get lucky, since they can be large, heavy and pricey, and you hope for a delicious one.

• Select a heavy one, it will be full of juice.
• Rap it with your knuckles, it should have a deep hollow sound; pat it, it should thud.
• Smell the stem, is it aromatic? And it should be dried brown.
• Should have a yellow belly, which means it ripened IN the field ON its belly.
• Should have a matte skin, not a shiny skin.
• No dents, scabs or discolorations.
• The two-finger rule: the dark green stripes should be at least two fingers wide.
• ALWAYS wash the rind before cutting open, not to drag bacteria into the flesh.

Back in the 1930s in Covington, my father and his older brother snuck over to the neighbor’s large garden (now in Dorchester neighborhood) to raid his watermelon patch. They would yank a watermelon off the vine, slam it on the ground, broken in half, and scoop out 2 handfuls of the heart meat, eat that in a hurry, and leave the rest of it to spoil on the ground. Apparently, they destroyed a lot of fruit that way, for several days until the neighbor got wise. “It’s not raccoons, coyotes, possums, deer, rats or birds!.. Apparently, it’s #$%^&* boys!” So, he was waiting for them with a loaded rifle! My uncle ran up a tree and pointed to my dad…luckily, he did not shoot them, albeit he might have fired a shot to scare them! No more destruction and damages paid up. Interestingly enough, their first attempt was to create makeshift stretchers and haul 2-3 heavy contraband melons home to enjoy, but that proved cumbersome, so they just consumed on the spot.

Watermelons grow in hot weather, June, July, and August. They require 70-100 days to ripen, so summer is the season to enjoy them. It is possible to purchase year-round, but those have traveled from afar, are expensive, and usually tasteless. Have you heard of Summerween? 

It’s a new fake holiday, in July, where watermelons are cut up just like jack-o’-lanterns, called Jack-o-melons, with costumes and activities. Check it out. Marketing….

If you are looking for a good book to read, try “The Yellow Watermelon” by Ted Dunagan, which won Georgia Author of the Year in 2009. It is a true story of his childhood in poverty and racial segregation set in 1948, through the eyes of a child and his best friend, a white boy and a black boy, the same age, best friends for life. Apparently yellow watermelons have a sweeter note of honey and apricot, and the book title played a role in the story. It has been called a book that all young Georgians should read.

In China, watermelons are given as gifts during the new year, symbolizing good wishes, prosperity and family values. In ancient Egypt, watermelons were placed in the tombs of pharaohs, symbolizing their importance in the afterlife. Watermelons have been featured in art for centuries, in every culture, to this day, and often in folklore, symbolizing abundance, good fortune even magical properties. I have seen pictures of square watermelons, grown in Japan, where a baby round watermelon is placed into a square form to grow to maturity in a completely square shape, easier to cut into slices? So, it seems that watermelon is loved, appreciated, and enjoyed around the world. Mark Twain must have loved it because he described it as chief of the world’s luxuries. “When one has tasted watermelon, he knows what the angels eat.” Go enjoy! 

Carol Veliotis is a local columnist for The Covington News. She can be reached at carol.veliotis@gmail.com.