Farewell to Summer: Say Goodbye with a Taste of Sweet Watermelon

 A couple of more days until we fall out of the summer months and into Autumn.  I haven't eaten nearly as much watermelon this summer as I should have!  But I must say the one watermelon I did eat was very tasty and sweet!!  I’m actually embarrassed to admit that I can only recall eating from ONE single watermelon this summer - but I did buy another one yesterday and one last week!

Before I know it, I'll have to wait until next year to eat sweet, sweet, watermelon.  Before you know it, you will too.  Soon the green spotty-striped melon will no longer be in the grocery stores; at least not here in the U.S.  I’ve never grown a watermelon before, but did you know that it takes 70 to 90 days of good summer heat to produce all that sweet goodness?!?  Yes, roughly 3 months and a soil temperature above 70 degrees Fahrenheit.  Who knew?!? 

I don’t know about you, but there is almost nothing worse than biting into a piece of fruit that is NOT sweet.  Especially if you’re expecting it to be.  Ok, there are worse things, but I always find it such a letdown when that happens to me.  I was on the phone with a customer service technician from Go Daddy today and we started talking about Labor Day weekend plans while we waited for one of my domain names to process.  I mentioned that we might head to the apple orchard this weekend and he started talking about a peach blossom festival out in his neck of the woods.  That led him to share how he now cuts his peaches instead of biting into them like an apple so he doesn’t risk expecting a nice, sweet, juicy, piece of fruit only to be let down by something less than tantalizing.  I guess he figures if he cuts it into pieces he won’t be tempted to bite directly into a boring peach.

While there is still time, get to the store fast!  Better yet, visit your local farmer’s market, and grab yourself a nice watermelon and be prepared to make yourself some watermelon soup!  If you DON’T have any seedless watermelon do not plan to make this one this weekend because you WILL labor! Last year I picked up a very large watermelon from our local farmer’s market and THEN came home and looked for a recipe.  Kind of backwards, but I made it work.  Well actually my husband made it work.  I really DID intend to make the watermelon gazpacho myself, but that same day I was running errands and taking the kids to doctors appointments all day, so I called home and asked Vince if he’d do the honors in my absence.  He said, “Sure!”  How sweet of him ;-)

Vince is always very helpful in the kitchen with cooking and washing the dishes, but the one thing he can NOT stand is prepping lettuce for a salad!  The kind that is not prewashed and in a bag.  Ha, ha, ha!  It can be kind of aggravating sometimes, especially when I’m elbow deep into something else and the salad is that only thing I still need help with.  I seriously have to think hard about something he dislikes in the kitchen more than that.  I don’t quite get it, but oh well. 

Anyhow, when all was said and done he reported that it took him 3 hours to make the gazpacho!!!  Yikes!!  With all of the cutting and dicing and seed removal, his fingers looked like raisins when he was done.  I think if we had the right tools (didn’t think to remind him of our mandolin) AND a seedless watermelon, it wouldn’t have been so bad! But it tasted sooooo good and so fresh!  Thank you Vince!!

Now, this is not the recipe he used, but it is probably my favorite of the two.  Plus, it is less labor intensive than what Vince experienced. 

Watermelon Soup
5 cups of seedless watermelon, cubed
2 cups of mango, peeled and diced
1/4 cup of lime juice
3 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
1 tbsp agave nectar or honey depending on your preference
a pinch of ground cardamom

•Place 3 1/2 cups of watermelon and 1 cup of mango into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth (I like using my Vitamix for this!).

•Dice up the remaining watermelon and mango into tiny pieces and add to the puree.

•In a separate bowl, combine the mint, ginger, lime juice, and agave nectar and pinch of cardamom.  Add this to the ingredients in the previous steps and stir well.

•Chill and serve.
Adapted from Eating for Energy by Yuri Elkaim, BPHE, CK, RHN

Final thoughts:  Did you know that watermelon contains cucurbitacin E, or tripterpenoid, which blocks the activity of the pain and inflammation-causing enzyme cyclooxygenase – the same enzyme blocked by COX-2 inhibitor drugs!!  What is a COX-2 inhibitor drug?  Find out more HERE.  One that most people are familiar with, thanks to commercials, is celecoxib, aka Celebrex.  Celebrex is most often prescribed for people suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, menstrual cramps and injury-related pain.

Shoot me a note or post a comment below!  I’d love to hear from you!  Especially if you try this recipe out.  By the way, how do you eat your watermelon?  On the rind?  Cut off the rind?  With salt?  In a fruit salad?  Do you trash the rind or have you found other uses for this Vitamin B and C packed part of the melon? What’s your favorite watermelon recipe you’d like to share?
​
LIKE me on Facebook at Allison Marschean (no middle initial).

---

My farmer's market find!

Excited to eat our farmer's market watermelon this weekend!

Whole Foods watermelon treat!