Ask Professor Produce

What's the scoop on seedless water melon? This didn't exist when I was a kid, and now it's everywhere. Is it genetically modified?

Can the world ever be divided clearly into two types of people? Of course not, but if it could, how about we divide it into those who are in love with the dawn of seedless watermelon and those who seem insulted by the very idea. From conversations in the produce aisles with many of you, I've come to accept that some people will never like seedless watermelon, ostensibly because it suggests some form of "cheating." I know this stoic Midwesternism when I see it--anything as sweet and sordid as a red hunk of drooling water melon is too indulgent. That's where the seeds come in, to irritate us a bit. It's a manner of hair shirt for some of you, I've gleaned. Not to mention the nostalgia. The nostalgia! The seeds!

Personally, I don't remember ever being anything but irritated by watermelon seeds, no matter how much I enjoyed using them in spitting contests, or as ammunition against the unsuspecting backs of my uncles' heads at family picnics. Devouring that sweet crunchy juice-in-solid-form was, and still is, my main objective and honestly, how much can you abandon yourself to your taste buds when small flavorless seeds interrupt your chewing? So I suppose I love seedless water melon. Okay, I confess! Could anyone really dislike mouthful after mouthful of unadulterated watermelon flesh, effortless and texturally rich? C'mon! It's decadent and lazy and glorious, so hail Caesar!

It is not, however, genetically modified. Although it has only become common commercially within the past ten years or so, it has been around for fifty years now. It is the result of the original gene modification process nature designed, hybridization. Seedless melon plants are sterile and must be cross-pollinated. This means that for every three rows of seedless plants, there is a row of seeded melons growing to provide pollen. This pollen is then shuttled by bees and eventually, the flowers turn to melons. These melons will be free of seeds and usually sweeter, since the energy typically used to produce the seed is instead incorporated into sugar production. So it remains that seeded watermelon will always and forever safely exist for our consumption and nostalgic purposes, as we literally can't grow the seedless melon without it.

This year, the Wedge produce department has been alternating between seeded and seedless varieties most of the summer, depending on what we think is the superior melon available at the time. You can select a good one by looking for a firm, unblemished rind. Then, cradling the melon in your arms, give it a gentle slap or two. If it vibrates like a drum it should have an excellent texture. If it feels more solid, like a cucumber, it's likely to be textured as one, too. Peeking at the bottom of a melon, it should have a creamy yellow spot where it sat on the ground as it grew. If it is too white, it was probably picked too soon. Right about now is when the melon eating gets truly spectacular. Gardens of Eagan brings in taut and ripe Sugar Baby, Mickey Lee, and Crimson Sweet icebox melons, as well as super sweet and finely textured Yellow Baby and Orchid Orange watermelons. They don't grow any seedless varieties, but their melons are so fresh and ready to burst with juice, even I can't resist taking some out to the back porch and firing off a few watermelon seeds... just the like the old days!