Watermelon 6 Ways And A Memory

Ask ANY southerner and they’ll quickly tell you that they love watermelon! High in water content, a good watermelon is an excellent naturally sweet treat. In all there are some 500 varieties, but they fall into only 4 groups (math people, math! and a little high-school biology in there too). Picnic type melons (the most popular in the South) are large, oval or round, and either striped or not, with a green rind and red or yellow flesh. Refrigerator melons have fast become popular because of their size and convenience You don’t need a monstrous washtub to chill it (it’ll fit right into the fridge). They’re round, either striped or not and have red flesh and come seedless or seeded. Then there’s the Yellow fleshed melon, its either round or oval and LARGE. I’ve found them to be not as sweet as the red fleshed, but it could just be a mind thing with me. They’re pretty and when mixed in a salad with red fleshed melon and a handful of blueberries, makes a gorgeous presentation!

The very BEST part of my childhood was summertime. We knew once school was out, watermelon was on the way. A very funny event always comes to mind when I think of those days and watermelon. My mom and her sisters in law decided they wanted to get away from the house, and being summer there was no escape without kids (the 3 dads of the bunch worked of course and taking a day off was unheard of) so, the three women and their station wagon full of kiddos loaded up, complete with a packed picnic basket (a la yogi bear) and a GIANT (seemed like it anyway) Picnic type watermelon. The great adventure that day took the travelers to a day camping area in a nearby Alabama county where they swam and picnicked and lolled the day away. At some point, during that day, one of the mom’s decided that it had gotten a bit warm and that gigantic watermelon needed to be cooled. But alas, not an empty vessel or bag of ice in tow. Dipping her toe into the creek near where they’d laid out their picnic feast, she and the other moms decided that the water there was cool enough and moving slowly enough to chill that melon until the kiddos finished their swims and were ready for a snack.

Did I tell you watermelons float? Well they do. And while the women chatted the afternoon away and the kiddos played, the melon floated its way down the creek ! (all unbeknownst to the moms I might add) So, when the kiddos returned from their swim, and were ready for a snack, the moms went over to the creek to fetch the melon and it was not to be found. Disappointed kids, flustered moms, what an end to an adventure. But one of my more adventurous cousins, located the refugee melon down the creek some way and fetched it back for us all to enjoy. Until the day my mom passed away that story brought back many laughs and memories of good times.

I’ve had quite a few adventures with watermelons, but I won’t bore you all with those. Instead I’ll bring you some yummy watermelon recipes I’ve gathered from around the interwebz. Each one, I’ve personally tried and keep in my own recipe box now. Be sure you visit these blogs (click the image to get there auto-magically and leave these folks a nice comment! Enjoy!