Watermelon

At this time of year, we have watermelon in our house nonstop until the end of August. We follow all the rules for picking a good one: creamy yellow color on the bottom, hollow sound when tapped, heaviest one we can find. Sometimes we get lucky and sometimes we get what we get. So I’m not about to tell you how to pick the right watermelon. But I can tell you the easiest way we have found to cut it, serve it, and eat it!

With a long sharp knife, cut the watermelon in half lengthwise. Cut a grid in each half, making your cuts about an inch apart. Cut all the way to the rind.

Use a stainless steel skimmer to scoop off the top inch of watermelon. It will come out in nice, one-inch cubes and you don’t have to slice tough watermelon rind over and over again into serving pieces. The skimmer is wide, has slightly curved sides to hold the cubes in place, and plenty of slots to allow the extra juice to stay in the melon, not in your bowl. Keep scooping off an inch at a time until you get down to the white part.

Try this technique and you’ll be eating watermelon faster than you ever thought possible. Other advantages:

• You don’t have to lean over the porch to eat your wedge of watermelon (we always had to lean over the porch because Granny didn’t want to mop a sticky porch).

• Your face, chin, arms, elbows, and the front of your shirt stay remarkably dry.

• You can still participate in the seed spitting contest that follows.

One final note: don’t buy those silly seedless watermelons. It’s like buying boneless chicken. The flavor simply isn’t there.