Hello all!
This week we continue our anti-colonial conversation about crops grown here at the farm with a discussion on watermelon. We are currently growing Sugar Baby Watermelons (see picture) and are obsessed with watching them grow. It seems like they double in size every day!
Although it is debated whether the watermelon’s progenitor was in Western, Southern or Northeastern Africa, the fruit is undoubtedly from the continent of Africa. The seeds of the fruit have been found in ancient Egyptian and Libyan archaeological sites that are up to 5,000 years old. At that time, it is believed that the fruit was quite unappetizing and was actually used as a source of water during dry seasons or long trips, as it had a long shelf-storage.
Similarly to okra, watermelon seeds were brought to the Americas via the process of the transatlantic slave trade. Since the abolishment of chattel slavery, the fruit has become a common, racist trope. In William R. Blacks’ journal about the Civil War Era, he writes that “freed people grew watermelons on their own land, ate them to celebrate their freedom, and sold them in the public square; in short, they used watermelons in ways that signified their claims to citizenship. White southerners were threatened by these claims and therefore transformed the fruit into a symbol of black people’s unfitness for citizenship.”
In short, the watermelon symbolized the freedom and agency of Black people to white folks, so they constructed a racist trope in response, purposefully conflating the messy nature of eating watermelon and the ease with which it grows in warm climates with blackness itself.
Similar rhetoric had been used against Arabs and Italians in relationship to the watermelon in Europe in the 1800’s. This trope persists today, though many people may not know how it came to be.
Growing watermelons is much easier in a warm climate with a long growing season, though there are tricks for growing them in colder climates online. Something we learned this week is that once the fruit begins to ripen, you should put some straw or cardboard under it to prevent rotting. Unfortunately, watermelons don’t sweeten after being picked, so understanding when they are ripe is important. If the melon sounds hollow when you knock on it or feels like it gives a little when you press on it, it’s ready. Additionally, the bottom of the melon should be cream or yellow, not white, when it’s ripe.
Attached are a few refreshing, summer recipes created by Jessica in the Kitchen. The first is a watermelon mint mojito, which sounds perfect on a long July evening. Next is a watermelon salad with feta and a balsamic reduction to cut the sweetness of the fruit. Finally, is her watermelon granita which only requires 3 ingredients and sounds incredibly refreshing.
We hope everyone is staying healthy,
Isabel and Kate