Watermelon: Dishes mix sweet, savory

August 4, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

By Ellise Pierce

McClatchy Newspapers

PARIS

GroW- ing up in Denton, Texas, I remember tasting watermelon that was so sweet that we’d sprinkle salt on the oversize, half-moon slices to balance the flavors.

Eating the cartoony wedges was always an adventure — the watermelon itself was no match for the flimsy white paper plates — and the seeds ... what were we supposed to do if not spit them at each other?

Let’s face it, watermelon’s just fun. Its striped outside and bright pink, black polka-dotted middle give it a visual appeal like no other fruit, and the taste — such sweet goodness! A slice of icy watermelon on a 100-degree day is what summer’s all about, if you ask me.

Besides all of that, as you might expect, watermelon is mostly water (92 percent), and it’s good for you, too, full of vitamins A, C and B6, and potassium. The big green guy originated in Africa and was cultivated by the Egyptians, and it wasn’t until the 1600s, sources say, that watermelon was introduced to the rest of the world. Maybe they needed to build bigger ships? Now, there are more than 1,200 varieties.

In Paris, I didn’t even notice the dark green fruit slightly larger than a bowling ball called pasteque the first summer or two I was here. Without the familiar dark and light green stripes, I just walked past this Frenchified watermelon, thinking perhaps it was some kind of squash (which, it turns out, is a cousin, like the pumpkin and cantaloupe).

Then, last summer at a picnic with a few expat friends along the Seine on an unusually hot night in August, someone brought out the watermelon. Without even a tiny bit of a breeze, there seemed to be nothing we could do to cool off — until, without paper plates, even, we ate chunks of drippy, messy, good old pasteque as the sun finally set sometime past 10.

The Parisians nearby looked at us, as they often do, with surprise. Non, we’re not going to use a knife and fork to eat our watermelon — or our hamburgers.

That said, here are two savory recipes for watermelon that’ll please folks on both sides of the Atlantic. You can use silverware, if you’re so inclined, or just eat with your fingers if you want.