Aug 4, 2018
Don't judge a book by its cover: watermelon edition
Our neighbors are keen gardeners, and several of them have quite large garden spaces where they grow all manner of fruits and veggies. At this time of the year, we're often getting knocks on the door and being brought everything from cherry tomatoes, eggplants, piman and more. One of our neighbors even grows watermelon, and they brought over a big one for us to enjoy yesterday.
The neighbors of ours that gave us the watermelon also work at the local JA (Japan Agriculture) Farmers Market, and told us that watermelons that look like the one below get discarded - because they don't look aesthetically pleasing enough with the yellow patch. I found that rather interesting, since back home we're always told when picking out a watermelon to look for that yellow patch, since it's a sign of ripeness and sweetness!
Just to make sure I wasn't imagining it, I double checked online - and loads of online resources also mention that the yellow spot on watermelons is an indicator that you've got yourself a tasty melon that's ready to eat!
The watermelon we got from our neighbors, that was set aside for being "imperfect". Hand model credits: my husband!
For the record, the watermelon is amazing -- and we've got a bunch of it left, sliced up in containers in our fridge ready to enjoy. One person's imperfection is another person's delicious freebie, I guess!
2 Comments
KamaT
on Aug 4
Now you see, here in the city you just don't get people bringing watermelons around. I think in Japan the presentation of fruit is almost as important as the taste. It's a shame because it seems that fruit is almost viewed as a luxury item over here, which perhaps is the reason for the expense. Anyway, always nice to get some watermelon in summer. Really helps to make you feel a little refreshed.
genkidesu
on Aug 4
@Tomuu haha, it's definitely one of the perks of country life! We get a couple of months of respite from buying fresh produce, since we end up getting so much! Right now we have so many tomatoes that we're wondering what to do with them all...but there are definitely worse problems to have! It is crazy to me that the aesthetics are such a crucial thing here. I'd happily buy imperfect looking fruit, especially if it was more cost effective! And yes - watermelon in summer here is heavenly!