Watermelon

With dishes from around the world, there’s plenty to delve into at our Food Festival. To help you stay inspired, here’s five ways to get the most out of watermelon

Watermelon is a perfect summer ingredient: colourful and refreshing, it looks amazing and is great for cooling down. At our next Food Festival, we’ll be showcasing plenty of dishes with a global outlook — you can broaden your palate stall by stall in our exhibitor space, plus catch demonstrations and talks. For now, we’ve gathered together some of our favourite international watermelon dishes to inspire you.

CYPRUS

A typical Cypriot summer evening meal is grilled halloumi served with cubed watermelon; grill the cheese for two minutes on each side until golden then add toasted pine nuts, torn mint leaves and a squeeze of lime juice.

VENEZUELA

A cross between a fruit salad and a punch, tizana is a mix of fruits — watermelon, melon, pineapple, grapes, bananas, apples and really any other fruit that comes to hand, peeled and chopped and then mixed with orange juice and a splash of grenadine. Add a handful of ice and keep in the fridge.

TURKMENISTAN

Watermelon is so popular in Turkmenistan that it even has its own national holiday, Melon Day, which takes place every August. A popular accompaniment to tea is watermelon jam, which is often served on toast. It’s made from pureed watermelon, lemon juice, sugar and pectin: boil and store in sterile jars.

GHANA

Ghanian markets are usually full of the fruit in the summer, so watermelon lemonade is very popular. Made with plenty of lemons, it’s wonderfully refreshing. Blend the watermelon and add lemon juice, strain and add sugar syrup to taste, then chill in the fridge. Serve over ice; it can even be served in a watermelon half.