WATERMELON
When one has tasted it, he knows what the angels eat.
It was not a Southern watermelon that Eve took;
we know it because she repented.
~ Mark Twain, Pudd’nHead Wilson
I believe in eating locally grown food. I also believe in eating watermelon.
For a couple of months out of the year, I can do both.
For years, I did both, waited through long months of fall and winter and spring, until late June, when the Luling fields came in and brought the food the angels eat.
Waiting wasn’t easy, especially since I was at the same time waiting for roasting ears to get ripe. Field corn—horse corn—musty-flavored yellow dent: not the food of angels, perhaps, but only because they don’t know about it.
But this post is about watermelon. It’s high in fiber and potassium, low in calories, and available in grocery stories year-’round. A couple of months ago, I decided—I’ll wait for Stonewall peaches, but watermelon, wherever it comes from, I’m having now.
Except tonight, when David called from the kitchen, “This watermelon is bad. I just stuck the knife in, and look.”
I trotted in to see.
It was bad.
I’d never seen anything like it.
No matter. We always have a back-up.
***
Read about square watermelons at Wikipedia. Common in Japan, they’re “purely ornamental” and “tend to appeal to wealthy or fashionable consumers . . . in 2001 they cost anywhere from two to three times a normal watermelon (at about $83).”
Note: Eighty-three dollars is much more than two to three times what I pay for a watermelon.
***
Another note: The corn pictured above is getting on toward horse stage. Humans eat it as soon as it’s ripe. I haven’t seen yellow dent corn in years. They don’t sell horse corn in grocery stores.
***
Quotation at http://www.twainquotes.com/Watermelon.html
Image of whole melons by Paul Brennan from Pixabay
Image of sliced melon by Stephanie Albert from Pixabay
Image of dent corn by moni quayle from Pixabay
Images of bleh melon by the Davises
Kathy Waller 
I love the taste of watermelon. It reminds me of the summer, especially when we have 2 feet of snow up here!
LikeLike
Two feet of snow sounds lovely. I would freeze, but it does sound lovely to someone who rarely sees it. Or who sees it with dead grass sticking through. Watermelon in winter is so foreign to me–but welcome.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m with you on both! We called that field corn when I was little. There was a field of it next to my aunt’s house. The method used was: boil the water first, pick and shuck the corn–fast, then throw it in for 3 minutes. Time was always of the essence and it was all hands on deck for shucking. Yes, angels would love it. AND watermelon.
LikeLike
We called it field corn, too. My mom’s term was horse corn. My great-uncle planted it for cattle and was generous to let people come in and pick it. I didn’t shuck much–I wasn’t good at it, and it itched. We ate it immediately, but my mom also blanched it and put some in the freezer, so we had it all year. And she made the best creamed corn, with a little bacon. That’s the dish I miss the most.
LikeLike
We called it field corn, too. My mom’s term was horse corn. My great-uncle planted it for cattle and was generous to let people come in and pick it. I didn’t shuck much–I wasn’t good at it, and it itched. We ate it immediately, but my mom also blanched it and put some in the freezer, so we had it all year. And she made the best creamed corn, with a little bacon. That’s the dish I miss the most.
LikeLike