'Personal melons' are trendy [View All]

Watermelons Get Small


The game, however, is in small, seedless melons.

Only about 2 of every 10 watermelons sold in the United States have seeds. And only a tiny percentage, agriculture experts estimate, are the old-fashioned heirloom varieties, all with seeds, that once made up all the watermelons in America.

The larger, more traditional-looking seedless “picnic melon” that flooded grocery stores in the 1980s still dominates the market. But the future is in what the industry calls personal melons, or the slightly larger icebox melons — round balls of sweet without seeds and, some think, without character.

The personal melon, weighing no more than six pounds, accounts for only about 12 percent of retail sales, according to United States Department of Agriculture research.

But its popularity has grown steadily since the early part of this decade, when seedless hybrids like the Pure Heart and the Bambino began competing in the new cute-melon category.

“Most people, particularly the urban people, would rather have a small one,” Dr. Kirkpatrick said. “With the big ones, you fill up all your Tupperware containers and you’re still not done.”

For farmers, much of the appeal of the smaller varieties is simple economics. Plant an Arkansas acre with big watermelons and you might get 40,000 pounds. An acre of personal melons will yield 65,000 to 80,000 pounds, Dr. Kirkpatrick figured.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/18/dining/18melons.html?src=me&ref=general