Yellow Watermelon

What? Watermelon comes in yellow? Who knew? I was walking through my market when I came across this beautiful fruit. So of course I had to pick it up and bring it home for a tasting!

Before I tasted it, I wanted to first learn about yellow watermelon. Unfortunately, I could not find very much information on the internet! So I guess in the watermelon world, they do not discriminate between yellow and red watermelons. Such a kind group, they are. Therefore, what I found was just about watermelons in general.

Did you know that there is a watermelon organization called the National Watermelon Promotion Board? I looked at their website and learned how to pick the best watermelon. In summary, you do the following:

1. Look for a watermelon that is symmetrical and has no bruises, cuts or dents.
2. The watermelon should be heavy for its size since it is primarily made up of water.
3. The bottom side of the watermelon should have a creamy yellow spot from where the watermelon sat on the ground growing.

Until you cut open your prized watermelon, you should keep it at room temperature. However, once you have cut into it, you should cover it with plastic wrap and keep the melon refrigerated.

Since the folks at the National Watermelon Promotion Board, well, want to promote watermelons, they also suggested some creative ways to use this summer fruit. One suggestion was to freeze watermelon juice into ice cubes and use them in lemonade. As they note, you will want to strain the watermelon juice to get rid of the seeds and excess pulp.

Okay, let’s get back to my yellow watermelon. After hanging out with the watermelon folks on the internet, I was ready to try it out. As expected, the yellow watermelon tasted much like that of a red one, but I swear it was a bit sweater. The tasted also reminded me a little bit of honeydew mellow. I definitely recommend trying it, if anything, because it is just fun to try out new foods.

The next time I buy a yellow watermelon, I want to use it to make a special cocktail drink. I plan to strain the melon for the juices (de-seeding it if necessary—mine I tried was seedless, putting the fruit into a blender or food processor, and then straining) and then mix the yellow juices with vodka to make Yellow Watermelon Martini’s. Doesn’t that sound good?!