A Watermelon with a Story to Tell

The Bradford Family Farm attracts many interested travelers in August.

To buy a watermelon, would you drive more than 200 miles? Would you make a two-day roundtrip from Illinois to South Carolina to buy the “heirloom” watermelon that once was believed to be extinct after the 1920s?

Bradford Watermelon

I did, and another customer drove across several states for the Bradford watermelon that is being introduced again to chefs, gardeners and food enthusiasts around the world. It is considered to be the tastiest watermelon and has exceptional characteristics such as rich sweetness, delicious flesh, thin rinds, and large fruits (up to 40 pounds). 

A Bradford watermelon in the field before being picked.

The Story

The story of the Bradford watermelon is as interesting as the melon itself is revered for its sweetness and flavor. On a blog, Nat Bradford describes how he discovered a book from the 1850s that lists his family’s watermelons as the absolute best of all market melons of the day. That discovery motivated him to learn more about their history and led him to find Prof. David Shields, an expert in Southern foodways. 

Nat Bradford prepares a sample of his pickled watermelon rind with pimento cheese.

Because the Bradford watermelon was so prized, growers often stood guard with guns at night deter potential thieves. Some growers even used electrocuting wires and poisoned selected watermelons in their fields that were marked by signs to “pick at your own risk.” (However, this plan backfired when a farmer confused a safe melon for a deadly one and poisoned the family.) According to Shields, more people were killed in watermelon patches than in any other part of the American agricultural landscape except for cattle rustlers and horse thieves. 

In the 1840s, Nathaniel Napoleon Bradford (1809-1882), the sixth great-grandfather of Nat, began experimenting with watermelon seeds and crossed two varieties to create what became known as the Bradford watermelon. Although it was celebrated during the 1850s to 1910s, it fell out of favor as other varieties became more popular. Its thin skin wasn’t suitable for long-distance shipping and its unusual elongated shape (like an overgrown cucumber) made it difficult to stack. 

Customers line up to receive watermelons that had been ordered online weeks earlier.

At the sacrifice of flavor, watermelons were bred to have tougher, thicker skins to reduce flesh damage and to improve their abilities to be stacked ten deep and loaded on trains without bruising and splitting. In fact, at this time 93 percent of commercially available seed varieties disappeared, and the last commercial planting of the Bradford melon was in 1922. 

Products from the Bradford Family Farm are ready for sale.

Although commercial production had ended, generations of the Bradford family kept growing the original watermelon for personal use. Then it was “discovered” when food historians, principally Prof. David Shields, were connected with the Bradford family. Shields had been researching the history of watermelons. From agricultural journals and seed catalogs of the 19th century, he was able to determine the characteristics of the Bradford melon: “oblong, dark green rind watermelon with red flesh and white seeds weighing 30 lbs. fully grown. Depending on the soil it is grown in, the rind develops longitudinal reticulations (stripes).” 

If you're taking home more than one, extra trunk space is needed.

Bradford Family Farm

Nat Bradford, an eighth-generation watermelon grower and seed saver of the famed watermelon, has been growing it since he was five and was taught by his grandfather how to save seeds. On his farm, not more than 10 miles from the original breeding site, he grows one of the oldest surviving North American watermelons. Over the decades, the Bradford family was saving up to 4 percent of each year’s crop as seed melons to create plantings in the next season. 

More melons are delivered to the sales tent.

Six weeks after I had placed an order, I arrived at the farm, appropriately marked with a hand-painted wood sign. A few people were standing in line to pick up their orders at the sales tent. Only a few watermelons were there. I must have looked worried because Bradford told me that he’d have a few more soon. Within minutes a pickup truck came down a dirt road to the tent, and the crew began offloading more melons. 

Nat Bradford washes every watermelon before handing it to a customer.

Don’t think that I got a dirty melon! Nat washes every one before he places it in a customer’s arms. (Both arms are needed to carry something so huge to a car.) I had ordered two, and they needed a large trunk space for the ride home. The person behind me had ordered eight, which at $20 a melon is a sizeable order. One melon that I took home looks like an overgrown cucumber. Both the watermelon and cucumber are from the “Old World” (primarily Africa and Asia) and belong to the same family (Cucurbitaceae) as do squashes, pumpkins, and gourds, but they are only distantly related. 

Is it a watermelon or a cucumber? Whatever it is, it's huge.

Bradford is certainly developing a following for his watermelons. He sold 500 online for pickup during two weekends of August (they grow late in the season). He also has a growing market for his family’s pickled rinds, watermelon molasses, and watermelon brandy. The Bradford family is continuing a multi-generational tradition of distilling the melon’s sugary juice into brandy as well as boiling it to make molasses. The melon’s sweet flesh makes it cherished for more than simply eating at a family dinner. 

Weeding is not a priority because walking in the patch would compact the soil.

Yes, my family is saving the seeds from the watermelons that we carried home. One day they may become a legacy gift.

Picking Wild Persimmons and Making Pulp

Persimmon picking is definitely a skill. Not everyone can do it – or is interested. It takes patience and perseverance. A little knowledge of the local landscape also helps. Equally important is keeping procrastination tendencies in check.

In the fall, fruit on persimmon trees is easily seen in bright sunlight.

Who today really wants to go outside in the cold and pick up fruit on the ground after it has fallen from a tree, particularly when ripe, fresh fruit is so readily available in grocery stores? The effort to pick persimmons probably is the biggest barrier for most people. For me, it’s not the effort; it’s procrastination. If I don’t pick them immediately after they fall, they quickly spoil.

Picking up the fruit soon after it has fallen is important.

Persimmon pudding is a favorite dessert, but making it doesn’t happen unless ripe persimmons are brought home. Knowing where persimmon trees are located is the first step, and then watching as the fruit on them grows and shines with a bright bronze color is crucial. Native to the eastern United States, persimmon trees like full sun and are often found on the edge of woodlands.

After persimmons are washed, they are ready for the pulp to be separated.

Wild persimmons, smaller than those available commercially, are not completely ripe until very soft. It takes only a few minutes to pick a bucket of persimmons. When you return home, wash them and then prepare to extract the pulp by mashing the fruit in a sieve or colander with a wood spoon or similar flat object. The riper the persimmons, the easier the pulp separates from the seed. (A common kitchen tool like a potato ricer works faster, but some of us prefer the old-fashioned method.)

A wooden spoon and colander are all the tools needed

The reward for picking and cleaning persimmons and removing the seeds is luscious pulp ready for making pudding. Enjoy.

Only seeds are left after separating the pulp.

Pulp, fruit, and tools are the key elements.

Collard Shack Revisited

[Note: This post, prepared originally for the NC Folklife Institute's NCFood blog, is hosted on the institute’s website, with excerpts and a link to the website posted here.]

A trip to the small town of Ayden is usually for wood-cooked barbecue because it’s the home to two of the state’s premier BBQ establishments – Skylight Inn and Bum’s Restaurant. However, when I traveled there, I was searching for The Collard Shack as much as I was for chopped whole hog barbecue.

Yellow cabbage collard bedding
 plants come in multiples of 25 at
The Collard Shack.

In 2011 when David Cecelski wrote about The Collard Shack in one of his legacy posts on this blog, he peaked my interest in its yellow cabbage collards. This type of collard is considered milder and more tender than most collards....

As a novice collard grower, I sought the wise counsel of Benny Cox, who manages The Collard Shack and advises beginners as well as expert gardeners. Talking to him was the highlight of the visit. He’s very entertaining and obviously loves his plants. His years of experience in the collard fields are evident in the lines and hue of his face. The bundle of 25 plants that I bought were light green with moist root balls and lengthy but fragile stems about four inches long. Cox explained how far apart to plant the collards and showed how much of the stems should be covered with soil.

Continue reading at the NCFood blog ...

Heirloom Seeds and Plants: Preserving State Food Traditions

[Note: This post, prepared originally for the NC Folklife Institute's NCFood blog, is hosted on the institute’s website, with excerpts and a link to the website posted here.] 

            Do you wish that you could grow the same vegetables that Grandma grew? The flavors that she tasted and the nutrients that she enjoyed are legendary, and many of us reminisce about how we miss the flavors of yesteryear. Because this desire to appreciate traditional foods is growing, a cultural movement to preserve heirloom seeds and plants has slowly but increasingly developed in our state. Efforts in the western counties, in particular, are significant.

Plants are grown for heirloom seed
production on farms in the South.

            To understand this trend, we first have to appreciate the difference between heirloom vegetables and their modern hybrids. Although many heirlooms date back more than 100 years, gardeners typically consider any plant introduced prior to 1951 (the year of the first hybridized plants) to be an heirloom variety. However, some date back centuries to the cultures of American Indians, and others can be traced to ancestral countries in Europe and Africa.

Continue reading at the NCFood blog… 

Spitting Watermelon Seeds

The most Southern of all sports in the hot days of summer has to be watermelon-seed spitting, with all due respects to swimming and car racing. Although grown in more than 40 states, the watermelon is especially associated with the South, the home of champion seed spitters.

Because of the region’s heat and humidity, most Southerners have a special relationship with the watermelon beyond cooling us off and keeping us hydrated during the final dog days of summer. At family reunions or church picnics, cold watermelon slices frequently prove more tempting than fried chicken or the favored aunt’s casserole.

In the days before energy drinks and the ubiquitous water bottle, the naturally refreshing watermelon was the choice for staying energized and hydrated. And eating watermelon virtually requires seed spitting. Seed-spitting contests are popular, whether they’re for family bragging rights or national television publicity.

Who has the record for spitting a melon seed? Obviously, the answer has to be a Southerner. Set in 1995 by Texan Jason Schayot, the Guinness world record is 75 feet 2 inches.

The World Championship of Watermelon-Seed Spitting is claimed by the folks in Luling, Texas (home of the previous champion). At the town’s annual Watermelon Thump, seed spitting is serious business. A prize as high as $1,000 awaits the record breaker. Even ESPN has covered the event. Contestants often warm up to chants such as: “Come on everybody, take a look, (insert name) gonna spit into the record book.”

Our state celebrates the watermelon all summer, although events peak in July (Watermelon Month for North Carolina) at the State Farmers Market in Raleigh, where seed spitting is one of the contests. Our watermelon queen’s skills for spitting seeds are usually impressive, sometimes more so than the male contestants’. The 2007 queen propelled a seed 23 feet.

Because of seed spitting, most of us think of watermelon as the fruit loaded with thin, black, minute projectiles ready to splat against a cousin’s face or get lost in a pretty girl’s blouse. However, as The New York Times recently reported, most growers are focusing on seedless watermelons. “Only about 2 of every 10 sold in the United States have seeds.” The seedless picnic melon, which began flooding stores in the 1980s, now dominates the market.

The seedless variety also seems to receive preferential treatment, with prominent displays in the grocery stores, but savvy shoppers wander until they find the ones marked seeded. A good bite of watermelon always gathers a few choice seeds.

Let’s continue the tradition: Spit watermelon seeds, and hope that next year on Labor Day the traditional melon is still available. We need to keep the seed of competition alive.


Note: This posting was published originally as “Top Seed in a Summer Sport” in The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC) on Aug. 4, 2010 (page A15).