Hey, this pertains to the American Revolution, so, ping! Thanks Theoria.
Posted on 05/19/2015 6:51:40 PM PDT by Theoria
The most luscious watermelon the Deep South has ever produced was once so coveted, 19th-century growers used poison or electrocuting wires to thwart potential thieves, or simply stood guard with guns in the thick of night. The legendary Bradford was delectable — but the melon didn't ship well, and it all but disappeared by the 1920s. Now, eight generations later, a great-great-great-grandson of its creator is bringing it back.
The story of the Bradford begins on a prison ship during the American Revolutionary War. It was 1783, and the British had captured an American soldier named John Franklin Lawson and shipped him off to the West Indies to be imprisoned. Aboard the prison ship, the Scottish captain gave Lawson a wedge of watermelon that was so succulent, he saved every seed. When he got home to Georgia, Lawson planted the seeds and grew a popular watermelon. Around 1840, Nathaniel Napoleon Bradford of Sumter County, S.C., crossed the Lawson with the Mountain Sweet. By the 1860s, the Bradford watermelon was the most important late-season melon in the South.
The Bradford boasted fragrant red flesh, pearly seeds and a rind so soft you could slice it with a butter knife. The fruit was more than just a savory summer treat — its sweet juice was routinely boiled into molasses or distilled into brandy for cocktails garnished with fruit and syrup, and the smooth soft rinds were pickled. Home cooks often turned to watermelon molasses to preserve fresh fruit for the winter.
But the oblong, soft-skinned Bradford was never suited to stacking and long-distance shipping. In 1922, the last commercial crop was planted, and the melon wholly gave way to varieties with tough rinds.
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
Space aliens, duh!
You can eat ice cream till you’re sick. No such thing with watermelon.
In east Texas, my PawPaw grew watermelons. They averaged about 80 pounds. They were so plentiful that we only ate the the “hearts”. haven’t found a sweeter melon since then. He fed the rest to the hogs.
ping
Thanks. $10 is a lot for 12 seeds, but I’ll try it.
Cool..let me[FReepland] know how they turn out.
Just laid out the Pay Pal account for a pack of seeds. Anxiously awaiting.
Now you’re talkin’! Salt on watermelon and both salt AND pepper on cantaloupe.
Half a good, ripe succulent cantaloupe with salt & pepper on it, at room temperature, filled piled high with vanilla ice cream. Ambrosia!
Thanks! A very interesting story.
Only 35 calories a cup. Loaded with lycopene and citrulline— both are known to improve cardiovascular health and blood flow. Citrulline converts to arginine in body. Arginine may also impede fat accumulation. Native plant of Africa where it is a life saver for herbivores that would otherwise die of thirst during the dry season. Seeds excreted intact. No wonder it’s so successful. It does relieve heat stress, as well. In Chinese cities sweltering in the summer heat, they employ large large trucks laden with fresh-cut watermelon slices to move through the streets and distribute the cool relief to any and all.
Pretty much all you can buy around here is seedless.
And as far as I’m concerned, seedless ain’t worth a dam!
Sounds like what we used to call Black Diamonds!!!
Apparently, the story raised so much attention it crashed the site. Everyone seems to be buying seeds.
Help me remember to link it next Friday, or you can go ahead and link it now. Thanks.
2nd ping to greeneyes for the garden thread.
I’ll try to remember it for tomorrow. I only ping once a week to keep the pings to low volume. Just remember, you can go ahead and post the links anytime you want.
Hey, this pertains to the American Revolution, so, ping! Thanks Theoria.
Good watermelon is far and away my favorite fruit.
My seeds came yesterday! It’s a little late in the season . . . but I think I’ll try with half the seeds, anyway. Suh-weet! ;o)
Cool...good luck and keep us up to date.
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