Multiple fruit watermelon in markets soon!

[gpburdell]

really excited about this, I was just at a farmer's market and they had this fun kind of watermelon I'd never seen before. It's basically pre-cut except not. I guess you would say it's pre-grooved and then you can just break pieces off. The neatest part? It is genetically engineered that way! They basically engineered the watermelon to grow like a multiple fruit (like pineapple or figs) so there are natural fissures. Then they harvest it before the whole fruit fuses. Because of the extra surface area from multiple fruit growing it usually ripens faster anyway.

I'm not sure why they created this thing, but it'll be great to leave the knives at home from now on on picnics. Should be fun. The farmer at the market said these things will probably start showing up in manhattan grocers very soon!

[Cheese Boy]

Cool. I'm envisioning a soccer ball looking watermelon -- swapping fissures for stitches, BUT that would be fused, right? I gotta see this thing.

[ashenfib]

The more I think about it, the more ridiculous this is.
This is everything that is wrong with the United States. People are too lazy to cut their own watermelons? Seriously?

What's next? Strawberries genetically engineered to taste like strawberries and cream?

[Midknight]

That would be AWESOME! lol

[debbiel]

At this point, I'd be happy if supermarket strawberries were engineered to taste like strawberries.

I'm also a little, "HUH?" on this watermelon thing. Or maybe a lot.

[flourgirl]

Yeah, I'm feeling the same way about this. It's kind of creepy and yes, totally feeds into an appalling laziness overtaking much of the world. (It's not just the U.S. being affected by this malaise) No one wants to work anymore - even if by "work" you mean just cutting up your own darn watermelon!

[small h]

Did you see this watermelon at a market in Manhattan, or elsewhere?

[gpburdell]

It was at a market upstate, near Poughkeepsie. Sort of upstate.

[small h]

In a week & a half I will be driving north on 9W from Poughkeepsie to Kingston. Will I pass the land of the magic watermelons?

[gpburdell]

Im not sure, I wasn't driving and my sense of direction is pretty bad! Haha. But I'll ask my friend who was navigating. It wasnt a destination for us, just something we stumbled on so I didn't pay too much attention to the location. But I'll ask my friend about the route we took.

[small h]

That would be great, thank you. I would like to see this interesting fruit with my own eyes.

[ashenfib]

Really surprised you found these. I read an article saying they were testing these out. But that was like only a year ago. Really fast time to market.

[peanuttree]

WHAT!? No way!