Wild watermelons
- 3000 B.C., South Africa
Ancient wild watermelons weighed no
more than 80 grams and their diameter was about 5 centimeters.
They started out as small, hard, extremely bitter fruits with pale-green flesh. To open them, you had to use a hammer or a very sharp object.
Generations of selective breeding, spanning several countries and cultures, produced the sweet red fruit that’s now a common sight on picnic tables. Indeed, as the gene for the color red is paired with the gene that determines the sugar content, the watermelon took on its familiar red hue around the 11th century, as watermelons were bred to become sweeter.
They started out as small, hard, extremely bitter fruits with pale-green flesh. To open them, you had to use a hammer or a very sharp object.
Generations of selective breeding, spanning several countries and cultures, produced the sweet red fruit that’s now a common sight on picnic tables. Indeed, as the gene for the color red is paired with the gene that determines the sugar content, the watermelon took on its familiar red hue around the 11th century, as watermelons were bred to become sweeter.