I've not had one all summer, they've all tasted like tap water!

How about you guys from other areas?

F1

the little thai watermelons grown on The Big Island of Hawaii have been amazing this summer. my daughter and i have been cracking out over them!

everything else has been disappointing in comparison.

geez f1, if anyone deserves a good watermelon, its you! i wonder if i could mail you one? is that legal? would it work? i'll do it! let me know!

I just finished off a good one that came from Luling Texas. I had driven through there about a month prior and the one I actually bought while in Luling was no good, but the one I just bought here in Houston was great.

I've had some good one's locally here in Central Florida. There's an art to picking out a good one too. Listen for a 'firm' and 'higher pitched' thump when you rap it with your knuckles! Heh...heh.

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

I've been getting great watermelons here in California from a farm called CalOrganics. Yum!

You lucky folks.....I may have to wait till august...

F1

These people are sitting in trucks on every highway with signs that say Sugartown watermellons and they are SOOO good.

Pa USA here and they have all been great from my local supermarket.
Brian

I got a yellow one yesterday and it sucks....having said that I've not tried the seedless, those are supposed to be good, I've also noticed there's way more seedless melons available this year.

Well one more month of summer and I'll be back the OJ.

F1

I grew some sugarbaby watermelons and we've eaten one. It was pretty good. The others aren't big enough yet. I grew cantaloupes and we finally had one ripen enough to pick and it was AMAZINGLY good! It was the best I've ever had. We have an organic garden.

... we didn't have much success with our tomatoes, I think we crowded too many plants together and they couldn't get adequate sun. This was our first garden and we really learned a lot.


Jennie

I grow mine, and this week, I started harvesting watermelons, and melons for a short time now.
Melons are sweet, and plentiful.
And the watermelons so far have been really good. SO far, I picked one that was a pollinating cross between a white flesh african and a Ali Baba (a desert variety from Irak). It was really good. And yesterday I picked a nice 15 pounds Ali Baba!
Happy farmer!!
If you want to see pictures: [www.el-camacho.com]
But to be honest, the ones I bought so far were not that great except for a couple ones. Most of them were sugar baby, and honestly, the flavor is bland compared to heirlooms ones like the Ali Baba or the orangeglow. My opinion and experience.

Raw Fruit Festival
[www.raw-fruit-festival.net]
Health, Fitness and Fasting Retreats in Spain
[www.fit-in-nature.net]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/2008 06:02PM by sgc.

sgc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I grow mine, and this week, I started harvesting
> watermelons, and melons for a short time now.
> Melons are sweet, and plentiful.
> And the watermelons so far have been really good.
> SO far, I picked one that was a pollinating cross
> between a white flesh african and a Ali Baba (a
> desert variety from Irak). It was really good. And
> yesterday I picked a nice 15 pounds Ali Baba!
> Happy farmer!!
> If you want to see pictures:
> [www.el-camacho.com]
> 8SandiasYMelones&lang=fr


Wow!...sounds good!

F1

fruitarianfitness Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I got a yellow one yesterday and it
> sucks....having said that I've not tried the
> seedless, those are supposed to be good, I've also
> noticed there's way more seedless melons available
> this year.


From growing watermelons, I can tell you the brix content of seedless watermelons (and almost all seedless fruits) is lower than for the seeded ones. Honestly, seedless sucks... There are more, because people don't want to spit the seeds out, and don't really care about the flavor.
The yellow ones aren't good either. I tried them, and they are fun color, but little sugar content, and little flavor. I grow some with african ones, with a white flesh, but they also have a low sugar content, but are really refreshing, and not hybrid.
The best ones are the ones with the big seeds I think. I grow some Ali Baba from Irak and some OrangeGlow. They both have very big seeds, but high sugar content and strong flavor. They tend to get hollow in the center when they are ripe, and the OrangeGlow has a fragile skin (opens on impact, not easy to transport long distance). So you don't find them in regular markets. Maybe in farmers market, or if you ask some farmers, because some farmers plant them for themselves, and also because they are very good pollinisators, improving production.

sgc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> fruitarianfitness Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I got a yellow one yesterday and it
> > sucks....having said that I've not tried the
> > seedless, those are supposed to be good, I've
> also
> > noticed there's way more seedless melons
> available
> > this year.
>
>
> From growing watermelons, I can tell you the brix
> content of seedless watermelons (and almost all
> seedless fruits) is lower than for the seeded
> ones. Honestly, seedless sucks... There are more,
> because people don't want to spit the seeds out,
> and don't really care about the flavor.
> The yellow ones aren't good either. I tried them,
> and they are fun color, but little sugar content,
> and little flavor. I grow some with african ones,
> with a white flesh, but they also have a low sugar
> content, but are really refreshing, and not
> hybrid.
> The best ones are the ones with the big seeds I
> think. I grow some Ali Baba from Irak and some
> OrangeGlow. They both have very big seeds, but
> high sugar content and strong flavor. They tend to
> get hollow in the center when they are ripe, and
> the OrangeGlow has a fragile skin (opens on
> impact, not easy to transport long distance). So
> you don't find them in regular markets. Maybe in
> farmers market, or if you ask some farmers,
> because some farmers plant them for themselves,
> and also because they are very good pollinisators,
> improving production.

It's funny you say that because the yellas have been the best of a bad bunch...ha,ha...I don't know what's going on over here in Texas, I know a lot of what we are getting is not ripe and still tastes "plantish" but like I say, August might be better...thanks man

F1

I'm glad you posted this. I have also noticed that the watermelons this year don't taste nearly as good to me as they did last year. I didn't know if they were actually worse, or if my tastes have changed.

I sure hope they go back to normal next year!

But ....

I sliced up a cantaloupe this morning, and it was one of those perfect extraordinary amazingly sweet ones that you get once in a while. I almost refused to share it with my kids, haha!!

Love when I find a good fruit!

Sapphire

I've had great tasting seedless watermelons all summer until yesterday. Yesterday's seems like it's over ripe and almost sour.

Sapphire Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm glad you posted this. I have also noticed
> that the watermelons this year don't taste nearly
> as good to me as they did last year. I didn't
> know if they were actually worse, or if my tastes
> have changed.
>
> I sure hope they go back to normal next year!
>
> But ....
>
> I sliced up a cantaloupe this morning, and it was
> one of those perfect extraordinary amazingly sweet
> ones that you get once in a while. I almost
> refused to share it with my kids, haha!!
>
> Love when I find a good fruit!

AAArhhh...where are you from?

F1

OMG. If grew my own watermelons I would be 100% raw. I absolutely LOVE watermelon! If shops/supermarkets had watermelon juice on tap, I would never ever have had a caffeine addiction!

I have a sweetheart melon variety in my greenhouse at the moment, I'm not sure if it's warm enough for it to actually bear any fruit.

Had a galia melon earlier, which was a bit disappointing

I live in Canada (west coast), and I have to admit, I am not sure where most of the watermelon in the grocery stores comes from here - I will have to pay closer attention.

I am pretty sure it is not locally grown.

Sapphire

Both watermelons I've gotten have been delicious and I bought them in Ca. I think they are local now. I try to buy the seeded ones, they are more juicy and redder than the bland seedless variety..also my mom used to say that the Hermiston, Oregon watermelons were the best..they are the large seeded ones that are stiped and come from Hermiston, Oregon..you might google them.

Love,
Prism

Right....mine come from Mexico I think....having said that for the last 2-3 years I've not liked the look of any fruits, they all look dull and dead to me.

Usaully the watermelons are real good...

F1

This is getting very weird - I've had some problems with fruit lately, only once in a while, but it is so bizarre.

Some time ago, I picked up some cherries. I think they were from Chile or someplace, it was near the end of winter, and I was getting tired of the smaller selection of fruit over the winter.

The strange thing was, they looked like perfect delicious cherries. They were the right color, the right juiciness, the right consistency, everything. But they were practically tasteless. And odorless. I had been reading about GMO foods around that time, and I really wondered if they had been somehow tampered with, because a real cherry that looked that good and had such a good color should have been an explosion of great taste.

Strawberries are another one that has gotten very suspicious to me. I have noticed the last few years that there are often big displays of strawberries in the grocery store, yet you can't even smell a single one. When you put that many fresh strawberries together, the smell should be very noticeable!

Now watermelon. Maybe I am just being crazy or paranoid, but it seems more and more common to me that the fruit I buy has very little flavor. I can't help but wonder why - poor soil, to many chemicals, have things been overly tampered with?

Does anybody else have this experience?

Sapphire

Sapphire Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This is getting very weird - I've had some
> problems with fruit lately, only once in a while,
> but it is so bizarre.
>
> Some time ago, I picked up some cherries. I think
> they were from Chile or someplace, it was near the
> end of winter, and I was getting tired of the
> smaller selection of fruit over the winter.
>
> The strange thing was, they looked like perfect
> delicious cherries. They were the right color,
> the right juiciness, the right consistency,
> everything. But they were practically tasteless.
> And odorless. I had been reading about GMO foods
> around that time, and I really wondered if they
> had been somehow tampered with, because a real
> cherry that looked that good and had such a good
> color should have been an explosion of great
> taste.
>
> Strawberries are another one that has gotten very
> suspicious to me. I have noticed the last few
> years that there are often big displays of
> strawberries in the grocery store, yet you can't
> even smell a single one. When you put that many
> fresh strawberries together, the smell should be
> very noticeable!
>
> Now watermelon. Maybe I am just being crazy or
> paranoid, but it seems more and more common to me
> that the fruit I buy has very little flavor. I
> can't help but wonder why - poor soil, to many
> chemicals, have things been overly tampered with?
>
> Does anybody else have this experience?

I've been seeing this for years....I'm at the point where I'm totally going off of fruits, nothing appeals to me anymore, it just looks dead....the only fruits that appeal to me right now are Texas oranges, I should be back on those soon...it's really not looking good for fruits!!!...in Texas anyway.

F1

South Texas is better, at least around Houston.

Any strawberries that aren't organic have no flavor to me. We had some good cherries this year and, as I said before, the watermellon are fantastic. We are getting them local though.

Richard, I haven't been able to get any proper watermelons this year except the pale red seedless varieties.

I have some reason to believe they're GM, although I understand that, officially, UK isn't selling GM fruit.

Afterbeing in the produce food business for a number of years.

I have noticed this very much.

I finally found a good batch of watermellons and how I kept track of them is by the sticker. After I find a good farm I will than look specifically for that sticker until they are gone.

I have noticed the watermellon to be either really good or have a bizarre soft mush taste to them.

A few bites and no thanks.

This year has been far better in regards to watermelon than last year. Come to think of it, I think the year before was really bad too. I have been quite pleased so far. I have been eating seedless conventional until the crop of the local organic farm are ready for harvesting. It's been a little more difficult to get over there lately but I plan on going in the morning. They have been having killer canteloupes there for the past couple of weeks.

So far, there are no GMO watermelon or cherries. If you get bland tasteless stuff, 2 reasons:
1- they come from far away, like Mexico in the US or Chile for cherries in winter. To transport them, they pick them green. If you go in Baja California, you can see trucks of green tomatoes being picked for the US. They are completely green, but by the time they reach the US, they get red. Red but no taste and acidic. That's why most people prefer them cooked than raw!!!
2- the commercial varieties nowadays are develop for transporting the goods long distance, not for the taste. Like strawberries, that can get big but resist several days off the plant. If you take any old variety, and pick it almost ripe, it won't last more than a couple days, and will turn bad.
The only way to get better quality stuff: buy local and in season. No other alternative. Otherwise you end up being disgusted by fruits like F1 said he is almost, and you may fell off the track.

Raw Fruit Festival
[www.raw-fruit-festival.net]
Health, Fitness and Fasting Retreats in Spain
[www.fit-in-nature.net]

geeeez i luv it when people talk about things like this

watermelon

what a terrifically awesome discussion

Mark Twain once said, “When one has tasted watermelon he knows what the angels eat.”