Watermelon

Staring at the watermelon on the kitchen counter, I was suddenly transported back to summers long ago when watermelon was a “you-can-only-eat-it-in-the-summertime” kind of summer delicacy. Of course, I was only in preschool, but best as I can recall Big Bear (the local grocery store chain) didn’t carry watermelon year-round in the 1970s. I know – how did we survive? But then again, the bagboy always loaded the groceries in the car. No one would have dared dream we’d have to ring up our own groceries in the future let alone have to bag and load our own groceries in the car.

I couldn’t have been more than four-years-old, but I distinctly remember mom carefully unfolding and spreading a tablecloth of yesterday’s newspaper on the red picnic table in the backyard. A large, oblong, beautiful, mouth-watering watermelon was carefully placed on the table. With surgical precision, mom split it wide open yielding the sweet, delicate smell of the watermelon. If I close my eyes, I can still see the soft red hues of the fruit and black seeds dotting the flesh like confetti as the juice begins to drip on the newspapers.

Yes. I said seeds. I suppose today most people seek out the seedless watermelons. I can’t really recall having an option to purchase anything the other day but a seedless watermelon when I selected the one sitting on my countertop. Kids today miss out on the fun offered by watermelon seeds. But we’ll get to that in a moment.

Back to my four-year-old summer watermelon. Mom then sliced a wedge of watermelon and sprinkled it with salt. I guess I should pause here for some of you to absorb that image. As a child, no one, and I mean NO ONE dared eat watermelon without first salting the wedge. Or at lease no one in my circle of four-year-old influence.

The salt apparently brings out the sweetness of the watermelon. But I didn’t know that when I was four. Salting your watermelon was just what you did, like wiping your feet on a mat or brushing your teeth at night before being tucked in bed. It was natural and instinctive. I didn’t know life existed without salted watermelon. But I’ve not salted watermelon in years. I suppose that’s because no one seemed to be alarmed with salt consumption in the seventies. At least not in my four-year-old circle of influence.

Now, where was I. Ah, a salted wedge of watermelon just waiting for me to lean in and take a bite – juice of course dripping down my face and soiling my shirt. But then again, can you really consider watermelon juice a stain? I think not.

Now for the seeds. The objective was to savor the watermelon fruit but spit out the seeds. Depending on your watermelon companions that can be a lot of fun, especially as a four-year-old. You have to be very careful especially when you’re only four not to spit out the watermelon fruit along with the watermelon seeds. Thankfully, watermelon can almost melt in your mouth like cotton candy.

When I was a child watermelon was a sticky-fingers treat like cotton candy. It was an outdoor activity as spiting seeds is very inappropriate in the dining room, or so they say. You couldn’t walk in a store and buy plastic containers of cubed watermelon year round. It was strictly an outdoor summer sport. But unlike other summer sports, didn’t make repeated appearances during the week or even on a weekly basis. It was a true bonafide summer occasional extra-special treat.

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I even got to plant a watermelon patch one year. Ok, so maybe that’s not all that surprising since I do descend from a long line of farmers. Mostly tobacco farmers, but I’m sure they all grew at least one watermelon in their tobacco farming careers. I was perhaps six-years-old when my dad marked off a small garden plot about six-foot square with railroad ties framing the edges. There we planted nothing but wonderfully glorious watermelon with big black fun to spit watermelon seeds. Best of all, it was beneath the bay window in my bedroom where I could keep a close eye on the watermelon growing progress.

It’s fun to introduce watermelon to a new generation each summer. And it still tastes best in backyard, eating from a wedge and not as cubed fruit eaten with a fork. But, that is an appropriate second option.

Time to cut into my watermelon. Pass the salt please.