Saskatchewan-grown watermelons beat any other on the continent

The tasty fruit, watermelon, is popular in Canada, so popular that our grocers import more than $400 million of the oval green melons every year.

That amounts to 300 million pounds of melon, or 49.5 million melons. Watermelons are so popular in Saskatchewan they have become associated with the Saskatchewan Roughriders “melon head” fans.

Love of watermelons was perhaps best explained by American writer Mark Twain, who said watermelon tastes like what the angels eat.

Watermelon has a rich history from the first cultivation in West Africa and Egypt some 5,000 years ago to its racist connotation in America since the 1800s. Watermelon became a symbol of food eaten by blacks. When black slaves were emancipated they grew a lot of watermelon and sold the melons, according to The Atlantic Magazine.

White people who felt threatened by the new found freedom of slaves turned the watermelon into a symbol associated with the perceived stereotype of black people as unclean, lazy and childish.

The stereotype was re-enforced by cartoonists, posters and a line of porcelain salt and pepper shakers featuring two black people chomping away at half a watermelon.

Some white people refused to eat watermelon – at least in public. Hopefully that racist symbol has disappeared.

The reason why watermelons were first cultivated is unclear. That many centuries ago, watermelon was bitter or bland, only becoming sweet over the centuries by breeding out the bitter melon traits. Watermelons provided travellers on long voyages with liquid in a container and some nourishment. In Eastern Europe watermelons were so plentiful that people ate only the juiciest part, the heart, feeding the rest to the pigs.

China, the world’s largest producer of watermelons, began cultivating them about 1,000 years ago, some 300 years after they became a fruit in India.

The first watermelons in America were cultivated in 1576 by Spanish colonists. The fruit has become a part of our culture from a tasty treat to watermelon pickles. Country singer Tom T. Hall contributed to the watermelon culture with his hit song “Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine.” The song tells of a conversation with an old black man and his three favourite things in life. Watermelon grown in Saskatchewan, like local strawberries and canteloupe, is sweeter and tastier than the watermelons we import. We import 98 per cent of our watermelons. In winter Canada imports watermelon from Mexico and Central America with late spring and summer imports from the United States. Saskatchewan can grow watermelons. Yours Truly recalls a chap named Daniels from Rouleau who grew a truck load of them every year on his farm along the Moose Jaw River.

The challenge for Saskatchewan growers is to develop a watermelon production system and market for the tastiest watermelons in America and replace some of that $400 million plus import bill.