The Sweetest Surprise … Yellow Watermelon!

Yellow Watermelon from Quaker Valley Orchards

The sweetest watermelon at the moment is yellow, according to moi after tasting every darn watermelon at Sunday’s Farmers’ Market. I’ve always avoided the yellow watermelon; I guess you could say I’ve been kinda prejudiced against a watermelon colored … yellow! But with fruit tasting so bland and mushy this year because of excessive rain, I was desperate to find something sweet. So I reluctantly tried a yellow one at a familiar farm stand. I was surprised by its sweet juicy-ness; the best at the market! Give up any watermelon biases you may have, and just try it  🙂

A yellow watermelon is a natural variety of watermelon hailing from Africa. It’s high in beta-carotene – which provides its yellow color – and vitamin C.

“To broaden the narrow watermelon gene pool, US Department of Agriculture researchers went back to wild watermelon relatives in Africa to find genes resistant to problems like watermelon vine decline, root-knot nematodes, zucchini yellow mosaic virus, and wilting diseases,” According to USDA’s monthly Agriculture Research Magazine.

What to do with yellow watermelon? Of course, any watermelon (even the yellow kind) is great completely naked, cubed in any salad, crushed into popsicle molds or a margarita. Its watery and slightly crunchy sweetness perfectly complements heat or salt in many recipes. Here are just a few of my favorites…

Katherine’s Fresh Summer Salsa with Watermelon
excerpted from Diet Simple Farm to Table Recipes: 50 New Reasons to Cook in Season!

Melon Chunks with Crumbled Feta and Fresh Mint
excerpted from Diet Simple Farm to Table Recipes: 50 New Reasons to Cook in Season!

Nora Pouillon’s Watermelon Gazpacho with Lime and Mint
excerpted from Diet Simple Farm to Table Recipes: 50 New Reasons to Cook in Season!