Watermelon Tasting

I know watermelon is supposed to be the quintessential flavor of summer, but with our short growing season, our watermelons always ripen in the fall. This year we grew two varieties of watermelon: Early Moonbeam, and Moon and Stars.

Early Moonbeam is a small watermelon with light green skin and distinct dark green stripes. (or vice versa, depending on how you look at it.) What makes this watermelon interesting is the bright yellow flesh. It looks beautiful cubed and mixed with a pink flesh watermelon.

Flavor: I love tasting different fruits and vegetables! One of the main reasons I grow a garden is to experiment with interesting varieties and oddities that can't be found at the grocery store.While this watermelon is fun to grow and look at, I prefer the flavor and texture of the Moon and Stars watermelon. The Moonbeam variety wasn't as sweet and almost had a hint of a squash-y flavor. It also had a bit of a mushy texture.

The Moon and Stars is a large watermelon. It boasts a dark green flesh with yellow spots and usually one large spot, thus the moon and stars name.

Flavor: The flesh is very sweet and has a solid texture. It holds well in cubes. The black seeds are quite large and easy to separate (and spit!)

Of the two varieties, the moon and stars wins my vote, but I may grow the Moon Bean again next year just for the beauty it lends to a fruit salad.