In our house, as in most Israeli houses, there is always one fruit for sure in the fridge during summer - it is a watermelon. We buy a big one each week, and we cut it up in portions and eat it everyday. There is nothing better than cold juicy watermelon slices to savor in the heat.
Oh yes, already Nahum Guthmann, our beloved and soulful painter of life, views and issues in the Mediterranean land of plenty of fruit, knew this and documented it in one of his loveliest pictures.
The word "avatiach" watermelon today in Hebrew, is mentioned in the Bible (Numbers 11:5 - 4. Mose 11:5), when the Israelites complained about the man that fell on the dew in the morning, and remembered the good things they had to eat in Egypt, like fish, and melon, and garlic, and onion, and leek, and "avatiach". But most probably in those times the word meant cucumber, and the word is translated in all the modern Bibles as cucumber - but sure enough watermelon and cucumber belong to the same family. I read on the Internet, that Egypt hieroglyphs depicting watermelons are found from far back as 5000 years - so maybe the Israelites ate watermelon after all in Egypt?
Besides the wonderful fresh and thirst quenching taste the watermelon has many nutritional properties. It is a source of Vitamins, A, C and B6, and is rich on beta carotene. Its potassium can help you prevent leg cramps. It is very watery, most of its weight is water.
Did you know that the watermelon rind is eatable too? I don't think I want to try, but in China they stir fry it with olive oil and garlic and even pickle it.
There are many watermelon recipes but we just like to eat them as they are, or with small pieces of salty cheese. One of my daughters loves to serve them as a refreshing drink, crushed in a blender, with a bit of sugar sirup and lemon, poured over a lot of ice cubes. Watermelon is given here as a summer dessert - after the barbeque, after the Shabatt dinner, and on very hot days it just will replace a meal.
Always wash your watermelon thoroughly before cutting it up. Store it in the fridge with cling wrap around it if it is already cut open. Finish it off in some days, don't store the cut up fruit too long.
Nowadays the watermelons are almost seedless. That was not always so. My husband tells me, that his grandmother would pull the seeds out of the dissected watermelon before serving, wash and dry them, and toast them with a bit of salt in the oven. In those times, the watermelon came to the neighborhood right off the field, on a cart pulled by a horse, the seller shouting: "Avatiach, Avatiach" and people would come out of their houses and buy, no, not one or two, several at least, and as many as ten for some families with a big bunch of children, and they would store them in the shade under the trees in the garden.
Two summers ago, while on vacation here, one of my twin granddaughters copied the watermelon eater from the print on our kitchen wall for me as a gift - I love it almost more than the original! :-)
And now, after finishing this post, THAT'S my treat! :-)
