Melon Nights

Originally from southern Africa, Watermelons are commonly used to make a variety of salads, most notably fruit salad. In Vietnamese culture, watermelon seeds are consumed during the Vietnamese New Year's holiday, Tết, as a snack. No other fruit says summer like the subtly crunchy, thirst quenching watermelon. Although watermelons can now be found in the markets throughout the year, the season for watermelon is in the summer when they are sweet and of the best quality.

It is not known when the plant was first cultivated, but evidence of its cultivation in the Nile Valley could be found from at least as early as the second millennium B.C. in the form of characteristically large seeds in Twelfth dynasty sites; numerous watermelon seeds were recovered from the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

Here is a recipe for the Watermelon Juice:

Ingredients:
(Servings: 1)

# 2 cups chopped seeded watermelon
# 1 cup crushed ice
# 2 tsp honey
# 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
# fresh mint (optional garnish)

Method:

1. Combine watermelon, ice, honey, and black pepper in a blender. Blend until smooth.

2. Pour the mixture in a glass. Garnish with mint. Serve chilled.

Sweet, juicy watermelon is actually packed with some of the most important antioxidants in nature. The citrulline which exists in watermelon (especially in the rind) is a known stimulator of nitric oxide.

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