Food Friday: Summer Watermelon!

In my opinion, one of the best things about summer is all of the fresh produce. A week or two ago my friend, EWH, gave me a watermelon from her farmshare delivery. I was excited because I had some GREAT watermelon when I was home in the Fort for the Fourth and I was craving it after that.

So, one Saturday afternoon, I realize I actually need to cut the damn thing up. I am sorry, I haven’t actually been given lessons before in how to cut a watermelon. Really, I haven’t had a part in cutting up a watermelon since middle school, and even then I wasn’t doing the cutting. I literally stood at the cutting board for a good ten minutes with the melon in front of me and a giant knife in my hand, moving the melon this way and that trying to decide what the best plan of attack was. The lesson: there is no good plan on how to cut up a damn watermelon.

I ended up cutting it in half down the middle where it is the widest, not where it is the longest. I then flipped those cuts over and cut them in to quarters. I then cut the rind off of those pieces and pulled the seeds out and chopped it into bite-sized pieces. Really, it seems so simple written out in three sentences… but it took OVER AN HOUR and was a cool, sticky mess!

While it was a pain to cut up, an experience I don’t plan on having again for at least another year, it was an excellent watermelon and a very yummy summer treat, especially with a little salt sprinkled on the top!