Watermelons

Super_Dave wrote:
I can't buy a good watermelon anymore to save my behind. I'm tired of paying higher prices for unripe or over ripe watermelons so I've just quit. :-(

We don't have that here, but what we generally have available are hybrid varieties that lack sweetness and flavor. Occasionally during the summer we see trucks with Black Diamonds or Charleston Greys for sale. They haul them from small farms in Texas and Oklahoma.

Bought a tasty Yosemite Fresh melon at Winco yesterday.

I can't buy a good watermelon anymore to save my behind. I'm tired of paying higher prices for unripe or over ripe watermelons so I've just quit. :-(

SWMO wrote:
ammdasgranmma that's the way it is today. The old standbys of corn, melons, etc either didn't stand up well to shipping or didn't look pretty. The old c antelopes we got when I was a kid were very sweet, grown locally in the bottoms and flat ugly to look at. The Black Diamond water melons were too big and too hard to ship, the corn was sweet, but tended not to have kernels all the way to the end consistently and the list goes on. Today it is more about shipping, eye appeal, resistance, and yields and flavor isn't very high on the list.

'xactly.
Strawberries that ship well, look uniformly pretty but taste like so much cotton. Taters with no dirt and not much mouth feel starch either.

I'll pay more for that "old fashioned" taste yet as amandagrandma noted you still have to be wary and know the code words or it's just another unfulfilled Madison Avenue moment. Thanks for the Black Diamond name, SWMO. It's the other "snake" name...yeah that's how I play word association games to try to 'member no longer everyday named stuff:B.

This is what i always wanted to try out with a watermellon...



Roy Ken

ammdasgranmma that's the way it is today. The old standbys of corn, melons, etc either didn't stand up well to shipping or didn't look pretty. The old c antelopes we got when I was a kid were very sweet, grown locally in the bottoms and flat ugly to look at. The Black Diamond water melons were too big and too hard to ship, the corn was sweet, but tended not to have kernels all the way to the end consistently and the list goes on. Today it is more about shipping, eye appeal, resistance, and yields and flavor isn't very high on the list.

I have been confused.......usually I buy at the fruit stands (hard to find in Central Oregon). Recently one opened up in my hometown. I bought "Oregon strawberries".......they were rotting within 2 hours!!!!!! I bought a cantaloup that had NO flavor. Same with watermelon. Corn on the cob was disgusting. Went to Safeway, bought the sweetest corn I've had in years, the tastiest melons!!!!!!!!!! That just isn't right. It's supposed to be the other way around!!!!!

who give a hoot

I love it when the subject of watermelons comes up.

I call these the Jack-o-melon.

I did my first one at my sisters house one July day. Everyone got a big "hoot" out it.

I did my next one a year later camping over the 4th of July. I put it out along the road and put a candle in it. Everyone passing got a real "hoot" out of it too.

So when you finally find that melon, have some fun. Core it out just like a pumpkin and then make the face. It's a lot of fun!

Think you'd be best served checking local farmers' markets or your state university's/county agent's cooperative extension. The switch over to smaller (less tasty IMO) seedless watermelons started some years back and there are few American farmers that haven't joined in. The varieties you are looking for are..Jubilee, Georgia Rattlesnake and something that has either Charlotte or Charleston in it's name. The 701 or 710 (getting older is not for the weak) isn't quite as good (again IMO) but is still better in taste than the smaller rounder melons. Or just ask them about picnic melons.

No idea about corn uhm well as I really don't eat it UNLESS I can put a pot of water on to boil, run to the field and pop it in the pot in 5 minutes flat.

HTH and GL!