Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom

Watermelon

(makes nine 1-cup servings)

  • 3 cups watermelon chunks (from watermelon, below)
  • 2 cups pineapple chunks
  • 2 cups seedless grapes
  • 3 bananas, sliced
  • 2 apples, cored and cut into chunks
  • 2 oranges, peeled and sectioned
  • 1 watermelon
  • knife
  • spoon or melon baller

Watermelon Boat

1. Cut watermelon in half lengthwise and remove the seeds.
2. Using a spoon or melon baller, scoop out the flesh of the melon until you have an empty shell.
3. Slice melon flesh into chunks, or leave in ball shape, if desired.
4. Remove any remaining seeds.
5. Mix the fruits together.
6. Spoon fruit salad into the empty watermelon shell.
7. Sprinkle with lemon or lime juice to retain color.
  • seedless watermelon
  • blender
  • ice cube trays
  • aluminmum foil
  • toothpicks

Watermelon Pops

  1. Puree seedless watermelon in a blender
  2. Pour into ice-cube trays.
  3. Cover the trays with aluminum foil.
  4. Stick a toothpick through the center of each cube.
  5. Freeze for three hours or until solid.
  6. Serve as a refreshing treat.
  • At the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Oklahoma exhibited three watermelons with the combined weight of 334 pounds. One, the largest of the Exposition, weighed 117 pounds.
  • C. Fred Andrus, an agricultural researcher, developed the first sweet melon that could be stacked, because it was shaped like an oval, called oblong. About a half-century ago, watermelons were round. They were hard to stack and rolled around during the rough ride from farm to market. Since they were also soft, all that bumping made them crack and bruise. Today most watermelons are oblong.
  • Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) are native to the Kalahari desert of Southern Africa.
  • The first record of watermelon harvest is found in Egyptian hieroglyphics on tomb walls dating back 5000 years. Watermelon were left as food to nourish the dearly departed in the afterlife.
  • A watermelon was once thrown at Roman Governor Demosthenes during a political debate. Placing the watermelon upon his head, he thanked the thrower for providing him with a helmet to wear as he fought Philip of Macedonia.
  • Watermelon crossed the Atlantic Ocean and made its way to North America with African slaves.
  • Watermelon does not contain any fat or cholesterol and is an excellent source of vitamins A, B6 and C, and contains fiber, potassium and lycopene.
  • Scientists have found that watermelon contains more of the health-promoting compound locopene per serving than any other fresh fruit or vegetable. Lycopene gives watermelon and tomatoes their red color and is thought to act as a powerful antioxidant that may help to reduce the risk of age-related diseases.
  • Every part of the watermelon is edible, even the seeds and rinds.
  • During the Civil War the Confederate Army boiled down watermelons as a source of sugar and molasses.
  • Watermelon is 92 percent water. Early explorers used them as canteens.
  • Most watermelons weigh from 5-50 pounds, but some weigh as much as 100 pounds.
  • Because watermelons are so fragile, they cannot be harvested by machine. Instead workers carefully toss them in a relay from field to truck.
  • Oklahoma ranks number 12 nationally in the production of watermelon.
  • Watermelon is grown in over 96 countries worldwide.

 

Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom is a program of the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry and the Oklahoma State Department of Education

http://www.agclassroom.org/ok

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