Use Your Melon

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It's the peak of summer, and the ideal time to enjoy the quintessential summer fruit: watermelon! The growing seasons of various states in the US give good overlap of watermelon availability, so you should be finding, fresh, sweet, juicy watermelon at your local market from July through September (and parts of California and Texas have their growing peaks in May and June).

Check out these fun facts on watermelon from the Watermelon Board (yes, there is one of those - see www.watermelon.org):

• The first recorded watermelon harvest occurred nearly 5,000 years ago in Egypt.
• Watermelon is 92% water.
• Watermelon's official name is Citrullus Lanatus of the botanical family Curcurbitaceae. It is cousins to cucumbers, pumpkins and squash.
• By weight, watermelon is the most-consumed melon in the U.S., followed by cantaloupe and honeydew.
• Early explorers used watermelons as canteens.
• The first cookbook published in the U.S. in 1776 contained a recipe for watermelon rind pickles.
• Updated! According to Guinness World Records, the world's heaviest watermelon was grown by Lloyd Bright of Arkadelphia, Arkansas in 2005, weighing in at 268.8 lbs (121.93 kg). Lloyd grew and weighed in for the Annual Hope, Arkansas Big Watermelon Contest on September 3, 2005.
• The United States currently ranks 5th in worldwide production of watermelon. Many states grow watermelons with Florida, Texas, California, Georgia and Arizona consistently leading the country in production.

The great thing about our global, integrated economy is that you can easily get fresh watermelon year long, from places like Brazil, Costa Rico, and the Dominican Republic covering the winter months.

So, if you haven't yet indulged in this staple of summer fare, grab a watermelon this week and enjoy.

By the Way

If you want some convincing that watermelon is a worthwhile addition to a power pantry nutritionally, check out these articles on the various health benefits of watermelon:

Dr. Joel Furhman on 3 Benefits of watermelon (from a recent email blast)
Dr. Joseph Mercola on 6 Things You Didn't Know About Watermelon