"What the angels eat"

"It is the chief of this world's luxuries, king by the grace of God over all the fruits of the earth. 

When one has tasted it, he knows what the angels eat. 

It was not a Southern watermelon that Eve took; 

we know it because she repented."  

Mark Twain

Today is National Watermelon Day. Like many other fruits and vegetables, watermelon was once a seasonal treat for just a few weeks in the summer.   Way back when, a big watermelon was the star attraction at our family picnics on the dairy farm in Pennsylvania.

The old-fashioned milk house had a concrete tank full of refrigerated water. It was used to cool and store the full milk cans and looked something like this.
 

I know childhood reminiscences can be subjective, but I have a distinct memory of Dad lifting a slippery, oval, floating melon from that milk tank.  He must have used the tank to chill the warm garden melon, since our refrigerator at the time would never hold one of those giants.

The smaller seedless melons we buy now are easier to cut up and eat, but like supermarket tomatoes, they just don't taste as sweet.  That could be just a trick of memory, but other old people say the same thing.

If you CLICK HERE there's a little NPR article on all the science behind those new seedless watermelons.

There are specialty farmer's markets around the country where you can still buy those big seeded watermelons, but not in western Washington.  Melons don't grow well in our cool, maritime climate.  I asked once at the grocery store, and the produce man said it was a shame, but they never carry them because most people don't even know what they are.

And if you've never tasted the old-fashioned kind, you wouldn't know the difference.