ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, September 8, 1996 TAG: 9609090004
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: Dispatches from Rye Hollow
SOURCE: STEVE KARK
A chin-dripping good time with ancient roots
Here in Rye Hollow one of the best of the year's simple pleasures always comes right at the very end of the summer. That's when the locally grown watermelons are ready to be harvested.
Up until then, most of those you find in the market have been shipped here from somewhere like California, which means they were picked early so they could ripen on the way.
Any true admirer of the regal melon knows this has to affect the way it tastes. The way I see it, a good watermelon is like a good tomato: it's best when ripe fresh off the vine.
At any rate, home-grown melons are stacked up outside the little country store where I stop for gas. A handwritten sign on the door says, "cold watermelon inside."
I follow the clerk into the walk-in cooler, where he keeps the melons next to the eggs and beer. He thumps several to find me the best one.
Those folks in California may know surfboards and oranges, but I'll put my trust in the clerk in the country store when it comes to picking the right watermelon.
Besides, watermelons haven't always been trendy enough for those folks on the coast.
For many years watermelons were commonly associated with poor Southern sharecroppers. In some places in the rural South, watermelons are still referred to as "Depression hams."
Most historians agree that the first watermelons came from Africa with the slaves.
In that part of the world, they have been cultivated for thousands of years. Five-thousand-year-old Egyptian tombs were found with pictures of the melons decorating their walls.
(In other words, Bubba Tutankhamen probably knew a good watermelon when he thumped it.)
Watermelons have been widely consumed in this country only recently. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that Americans are eating an average of 31 pounds more watermelon each year since 1991.
In 1996 each American is expected to eat 16 pounds of the juicy fruit.
At least part of the growing appreciation for the melon coincides with the contemporary American's interest in healthy, low-fat diets.
Watermelons are low in calories and free of cholesterol and fat. Moreover, the USDA's Human Nutrition Research Center says that the melon is an excellent source of lycopene, which seems to help in the prevention of some forms of cancer.
On the other hand, maybe you're one of those who really doesn't care about how chic or healthy watermelon is. You see a plump ol' watermelon and you're reminded of porch swings and lazy summer afternoons.
After all, maybe you're a purist.
You like watermelon because you like the way the juice dribbles down your chin when you eat it.
You were country before country was cool.
LENGTH: Medium: 61 linesby CNB