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Watermelon Salad with a Balsamic Reduction (click for recipe)

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There’s nothing like a fresh, deep red and juicy watermelon to bring back memories of hot summer days. Remember sitting on the back stoop spitting seeds? It’s as close as most of us get to the immature thrill of a food fight.

Watermelon’s history reaches back to ancient times. In 1800 David Livingstone (the Scottish missionary whose near disappearance prompted H. M. Stanley to famously say, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”) described them as “abundant” in Africa, which is also where they first originated. Archeologists discovered watermelon seeds in the tomb of the boy King Tut, (presumably so that he could continue to enjoy spitting seeds in the afterlife). The cheerful fruit made its way to Europe when the Moors introduced it in the 13th century, and colonists brought the first watermelon seeds to the New World in the 1600s. 

Luckily for all of us, ripe watermelons are plentiful, affordable, and available throughout the year in most markets. But during this time of year we can enjoy nearly perfect melon harvested from our very own backyards. Forget sniffing and weighing them to get the prime watermelon. The trick to picking a good one is to check its flat, yellow spot. That’s the spot on which the melon rested while in the field, and the bigger and wider that yellow spot, the more it baked in the sun producing sweet natural fructose that makes it so juicy and flavorful. Don’t buy one thinking it will ripen in sunlight at home because when it’s picked, it’s done ripening.

Watermelons are a great source for vitamins A, C, B6, and B1 as well as the minerals potassium and magnesium. At only 48 calories per cup, they are full-service, scrumptious, satisfying, and many actually still contain fun-to-spit seeds!

One fun way to enjoy watermelon is to sculpt “basket cubes” out of the fruit. Pick a ripe one, either with or without seeds, open it up and cut square cubes of flesh from the melon. Small cubes, maybe 1-1⁄2 inches square can be filled for hors d’oeuvres.  Cubes as large as 3 inches square are perfect for first courses or dessert filled with fruit salad, salsa, or sorbet.

Don’t sculpt the watermelon too early in the day as it can dry out. You can extend the life of the cubes somewhat by covering them with a damp paper towel and refrigerating. Check frequently to see if the paper towel has dried out.

There will be a fair amount of the watermelon left over, so use that for smoothies. Even better, put those chunks on a plate, go out to the porch with the dog and the kids, eat the pieces, and see who can spit the seeds the farthest.