Great Balls Of Sweetness

There’s A Time And A Place To Enjoy These Fruits: All Year Round And All Over The World.

- Chris Stafford

I remember an intensely hot summer’s day in my childhood, the sort of bitumen-melting weather that had all us kids clamouring for ice-cream. Accordingly, Dad set out for the corner shop with vague promises of fetching “something better than ice-cream”. He came back with a big green watermelon.

Once we got over the initial disappointment — to a kid, it wasn’t really better than ice-cream but, in retrospect, probably a lot cheaper — we soon discovered the joys of chilled watermelon.

Tight as a drum, it emitted a satisfyingly woody sound when tapped. Once sliced, it wasn’t just a delicious thirst quencher; you could use an arc of rind to make a big fake grin or a sunhat and stage endless seed-spitting competitions. Perhaps that’s why many of today’s varieties are seedless.

Melons of all kinds have been enjoyed by kids of all ages since before recorded time. Originating in the heat of Africa and southwest Asia, they were cultivated by the ancient Egyptians and found their way into Europe around the last days of the Roman Empire.

From there they accompanied European settlers to the New World, where they were so enthusiastically adopted and hybridised by Native Americans that some commentators have suggested the fruit may have originated in Mexico and Central America. Whatever the truth, there’s no question that melons will thrive anywhere with a long, hot summer.

ABOUT MELONS

The melon is a curious fruit. Mostly water and sugar, it belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family, which makes it a relative of squash, pumpkin and zucchini. Botanically, it’s classified as a berry — a pepo, to be exact, a fleshy edible fruit surrounded by a rind.

Its common name ultimately derives from the Greek melopepon, a combination of melon, meaning apple or any kind of tree fruit, and pepon, which denoted a gourd or melon.