Finding Balance and Joy: Happy Watermelon Day!

Greetings all!

This Wednesday, August 3, pause your week to celebrate watermelon! Refreshing, delicious, and fun – just the thing for a hot summer day! And so many ways to enjoy it! You can add it to cocktails and salads, make a frozen treat, or carve as a pumpkin. You can even stir-fry or pickle the rinds.

Here is a handy chart on how to pick a perfect watermelon:

Image from https://www.eagleeyeproduce.com/perfectwatermelon/

Did you know:

Watermelon is 92% water.
Watermelon originated in Southern Africa 5000 years ago, where it was prized as a source of water.
Seeds and paintings of watermelon were discovered in Egyptian tombs.
Botanically, watermelon is cousin to cucumbers.
Over 1,200 varieties of watermelon are grown in almost 100 countries worldwide. I recently tried a yellow watermelon, and it was delicious.
China is the #1 producer of watermelons.
The world’s heaviest watermelon weighed 350.5 lb (159 kg) and was grown in 2013 by Chris Kent in Tennessee, USA.
There are watermelon monuments, festivals, and auctions around the world.
Apparently, there is still a debate on whether watermelon is a fruit or vegetable. You can read more https://www.watermelon.org/watermelon-101/facts-faqs/. We definitely live in the times of fluid identities.
You can grow a square or a heart-shaped watermelon – all you need is a baby watermelon and a box or mold of the shape you want. The non-round shapes are cute and original but it brought to my mind the foot-binding custom and I felt sad for the poor baby watermelons. Plus, these shape-shifters are more decorative than edible as they are harvested before they are ripe. Still, they are popular as presents in Japan, and apparently in Russia several years ago, square-shaped watermelons cost $860.