Author Topic: What ever happened to the watermelon  (Read 119 times)

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Offline ?Impact

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What ever happened to the watermelon
« on: August 14, 2019, 02:54:14 pm »
Watermelons are on sale this week so I just picked up one. Looking at it, I wonder what ever happened to the good old oblong watermelon. That was all we ever had, and now the stores are full of these bowling balls. What is happening?

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Online Michael Hardner

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Re: What ever happened to the watermelon
« Reply #1 on: August 14, 2019, 02:57:06 pm »
I don't know but where are the sour apples?

Offline Omni

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Re: What ever happened to the watermelon
« Reply #2 on: August 14, 2019, 02:59:33 pm »
Watermelons are on sale this week so I just picked up one. Looking at it, I wonder what ever happened to the good old oblong watermelon. That was all we ever had, and now the stores are full of these bowling balls. What is happening?

I have asked the same question and I would add another troubling issue, at least where I live, is where the hell did all the grapefruit juice go? I can find grapefruits on the shelves but no packaged pure juice.

Online Michael Hardner

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Re: What ever happened to the watermelon
« Reply #3 on: August 14, 2019, 03:32:12 pm »
They lost the middle aged male market because you can't have grapefruit with statins. Also other medicine.

Offline Omni

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Re: What ever happened to the watermelon
« Reply #4 on: August 14, 2019, 03:39:10 pm »
Apparently the Japanese are hurting as well on the grapefruit issue. Not sure where they are on watermelon.

 TOKYO — In the glory days, not all that long ago, Florida grapefruit farmers built their lives around Japan.

And the Japanese stayed true, enjoying grapefruit for breakfast, for dessert, swirled in cocktails, individually wrapped as gifts, even saving the peels for aromatic nightly baths.

Japan has one-third the population of the United States but consumed as much or more Florida grapefruit. Among imports in a typical Tokyo produce aisle, it was second only to bananas.

Now Florida’s grapefruit market is in shambles.

Rampant citrus greening has slashed the state’s already lean supply to its tiniest figure since trade opened in the early 1970s.

In the 2003-04 season, Japan imported 12.1 million cartons of Florida grapefruit.

In 2016-17, 1.58 million cartons.

https://www.tampabay.com/data/2018/03/14/as-floridas-grapefruit-supply-dwindles-japanese-customers-lose-interest/

Offline Omni

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Re: What ever happened to the watermelon
« Reply #5 on: August 14, 2019, 03:43:32 pm »
Here's a "slice" of what may be going on.

 The days of spitting watermelon seeds across the front lawn or carving the hollowed-out rind into Noah's Ark are long gone. So are those great big, triangular slices. According to the NY Times, farmers are increasingly breeding seedless, smaller melons with dense fruit.

The article discusses University of Arkansas plant pathology professor Terry Kirkpatrick and his work popping open watermelons as his lab works to find the most durable breeds to ship to urban shoppers. According to the Times, the shift is a tough one for Arkansas farmers and locals who are used to 50-pound fruits in the traditional oblong shape. 

https://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/stories/watermelons-are-getting-smaller
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Offline Queefer Sutherland

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Re: What ever happened to the watermelon
« Reply #6 on: August 14, 2019, 03:53:56 pm »
The reality is most of our food is highly bred, our fruits and veggies, even farm animals we eat.  Cows have such large udders they can barely walk.  Not even sure how much of the stuff we eat is how it's found in the wild.

You see wild strawberries or raspberries in the forest and they're tiny.  So are apples.  Strawberries are now the size of my head lol.

https://www.vox.com/2014/10/15/6982053/selective-breeding-farming-evolution-corn-watermelon-peaches

https://www.businessinsider.com/what-farm-animals-looked-like-before-breeding-2016-2
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Offline ?Impact

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Re: What ever happened to the watermelon
« Reply #7 on: August 14, 2019, 05:50:15 pm »
You see wild strawberries or raspberries in the forest and they're tiny.

... and delicious

Strawberries are now the size of my head lol.

... and absolutely tasteless
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Offline wilber

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Re: What ever happened to the watermelon
« Reply #8 on: August 14, 2019, 06:20:54 pm »
We are so used to year round produce, most of what we buy is picked green and shipped long distances. They’ve just don’t have the sugar content of something ripened on the plant. Right now we are enjoying cherry tomatoes from three plants we plant every spring, eating them off the vine is like eating candy.
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Offline Queefer Sutherland

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Re: What ever happened to the watermelon
« Reply #9 on: August 14, 2019, 07:07:38 pm »
We are so used to year round produce, most of what we buy is picked green and shipped long distances. They’ve just don’t have the sugar content of something ripened on the plant. Right now we are enjoying cherry tomatoes from three plants we plant every spring, eating them off the vine is like eating candy.

I once ate a blackberry literally while it still was on the vine in my garden.   :D  It was literally still being fed nutrients from the vine while i ate it.  I did it because you can't get any fresher than that!

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Offline Omni

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Re: What ever happened to the watermelon
« Reply #10 on: August 14, 2019, 09:42:29 pm »
And who the hell didn't like spitting watermelon seeds across the lawn! You know, such in yer wind and let 're fly. Take another bite.