To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here: The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia: Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed. Viruses such as cucumber mosaic, squash mosaic, and watermelon mosaic also can be a problem. “In fact, one of my earliest images I have is of an African American man with a watermelon in each arm and a chicken on the ground, or a pullet as they called it.

Watermelon rinds are also edible, and sometimes used as a vegetable. Specialized varieties of watermelon are grown that have little watery flesh but concentrate their energy into seed production. Feel hungry between meals? Speculation exists, in addition to taking advantage of its water content, people endemic to the region roasted and ate its seeds as a source of nourishment. Get daily tips and expert advice to help you take your cooking skills to the next level. One may find 2 kilogram (cantaloupe-sized) to 40 kilogram watermelons, watermelons with light green to very dark green rinds, and flesh color that is red, pink, yellow, orange, and white. Southerners of any race frequently have been lampooned for the fruit's popularity in the South over the years; however, some of the folk humor about Southerners has been gentle self-parody, as seen in the annual watermelon seed-spitting contests at Southern festivals like Georgia's "Redneck Games."

Few things are more refreshing on a hot summer day than a slice of cold watermelon. Part of HuffPost Food & Drink. National Museum of African American History and Culture An image from 1895 depicts two black children eating wedges of watermelon. One of these boys is so consumed with the watermelon, his face is obscured from view. He was allegedly making the decision about [whether to] put the watermelons down and pick up the pullet. Aptly named, watermelon is 92 percent water and was first used by ancients as a source of water.

An equal opportunity/access/affirmative action/pro-disabled and veteran employer. Others are made to be disease-resistant and wilt-resistant. But those who eat watermelon often know that eating it in small triangles is typically the way it is done: To eat it the way it is drawn in these pervasive images would be wasteful and incredibly messy. The seeds of watermelons were found in the tomb of the famous Pharaoh Tutankhamen. there are seedless variants). This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Thomas Jefferson grew watermelon at Monticello and, by the early part of our nation's history, it was being grown by Native American's from the Mississippi Valley south to Florida. Until the 1940s, however, it was hard to find watermelons in good condition at grocery stores. Debra Freeman, writer and managing editor of Southern Grit Magazine, encountered some of these ads and photos through her mother and was struck with the imaging and the larger implications for them. Remains of watermelons were also found in tombs of the Over 1,200 varieties of watermelon are grown across 96 countries worldwide. According to Guinness World Records, the world's heaviest watermelon ever produced weighed 350.5 pounds and was grown in Sevierville, Tennessee. Soon thereafter, watermelon found its way to Egypt where it was first improved. Watermelon is also an excellent choice for those with an artistic flair who enjoy making edible sculptures. It looks like a kuku flower in bloom.

By the 7th century, it reached India and from there China which saw its first watermelons in the 10th century. Smithsonian points out that “many Southern whites reacted to this self-sufficiency by turning the fruit into a symbol of poverty. Museums Online South Africa list watermelons as having been introduced to North American Indians in the 1500s. The seeds are eaten as a snack or added to other dishes, and may be roasted and seasoned.

The Russians make a hearty beer from watermelon juice.

How did this green-and-white striped rind and its juicy, red flesh become a racist moniker?

Another has his head leaning outward as he tips what looks like an empty watermelon rind toward his head to catch the lingering bit of juiciness.

Watermelon was being cultivated in India by the 7th century, and by the 10th century it had found its way to China. Melon lovers had to grow their own (which tended not to keep for long), purchase them from local grocers supplied by truck farmers, or purchase them from roadside produce stands. But how did it start? The latter contains a number of familiar garden vegetables including cucumber, squash, pumpkin and musk melon. He was on the prison ship and received a slice of watermelon from the Scottish captain. and roasted, or ground into flour. Around the thirteen century, history reveals that watermelons were first brought into Europe.

2016. Since pollination is necessary for the enlargement of the melon, a pollinator variety must be interplanted with seedless varieties to insure melon set. There are also some smaller, spherical varieties of watermelon, both red- and yellow-fleshed, sometimes called "icebox melons.".

in the 17th century, they were grown in Massachusetts, Peru, Brazil, Panama and many British and Dutch colonies. Some of the chronological aspects to appreciate the history of watermelon are as follows: 2000 BC - Period when watermelons were first cultivated in ancient Egypt and ancient India.

Assuming that character of Pudd'nHead Wilson speaks for the author of the novel of the same name, then Mark Twain was very fond of watermelon indeed.