Sweet and refreshing, watermelon is the perfect summer fruit, and you’ll find plenty of it at the markets at the moment.
Seedless watermelon seems to be the only type of watermelon available in supermarkets these days, but many would agree the old-fashioned seeded watermelons are still the winners when it comes to flavour. Matt Everest of Everest Farms, has two seeded varieties, the traditional oval shaped Red Tigers and a smaller, rounder, super sweet variety.
Alstonville growers Stan and Rick Morrow also have seeded varieties – the distinctively striped, heirloom Warpaint variety, and an unusual yellow skinned, red flesh variety.
While there’s nothing quite like a slice of cold watermelon straight from the fridge on a hot day, there are also plenty of other ways you can enjoy it.
Freeze It
Watermelon ice blocks are a yummy and healthy alternative to the sugary, preservative and plastic packaging-laden ice blocks in the supermarket. Pour a cup or two of watermelon cut into chunks into a blender or food processor, add other flavourings like lime juice, mint, other fruits, or coconut water (optional), blend, strain the mixture into ice block moulds then freeze.
Juice It
Watermelon water may be the latest fad, but why not save your cash, buy a watermelon and make your own watermelon ‘water’? You’ll save on money and wasteful packaging, and dare we say it, it’s probably better for you. Cut up a cup or two of chilled watermelon, stick it in a blender and hey presto. You can put it through a sieve and strain the pulp if you want to or add a little lime or lemon juice if you want to get fancy.
Eat the Seeds
Spitting the pips at your brother or sister may have been one of your favourite summer sports, but you may have been wasting one of the best parts of the watermelon. Watermelon seeds are a bit like sunflower seeds – they contain good fats and fibre and taste pretty good when they’re roasted and salted. Eat as a snack or sprinkle on salads.
Make a Salad
You can’t go wrong with a classic watermelon, feta and mint salad. Combine diced watermelon, feta, cucumber and sprinkle with mint leaches, Dress with olive oil and lemon juice.
