A summer icon but odd looking without the seeds.

Summary of my seedless watermelon production googling:

A chemical called colchicine is used to double the number of chromosomes of a normal watermelon. If colchicine were used on us, we would probably die but the watermelons are cool with it. It actually makes them bigger and stronger so colchicine is often used in watermelon breeding. If these watermelons with extra chromosomes are crossed with normal watermelons, a sterile offspring is produced. This offspring can be used to produce seedless watermelons but the normal watermelon is still needed to provide pollen that the sterile watermelon lacks. Oh and you also need a lot of bees.

Next time I’ll buy a seeded watermelon but if I make watermelon bombe, I may make it seedless. I was never a fan of frozen chocolate chips in my sherbet.

I’ve been reading other things about watermelons: they are not actually melons in the proper melon sense (like honeydew, cantaloupe, and cucumber), there is a breed called “cream of saskatchewan” that I can’t believe I have not tried, and there are southeastern European folk legends of vampire watermelons.

According to tradition, watermelons or any kind of pumpkin kept more than ten days or after Christmas will become a vampire, rolling around on the ground and growling to pester the living. People have little fear of the vampire pumpkins and melons because of the creatures’ lack of teeth.

It’s a good thing watermelon gets eaten up so fast.