You may remember one of my New Year’s resolutions for 2010 is to enter a watermelon seed spitting contest. I’ve always wanted to but never have. I’m still searching for a contest to enter, but a contest could pop up at any moment (for example, my neighbor could knock on my door one Saturday afternoon and tell me about a contest happening in his backyard right that moment), so I figured I’d better start training and honing my seed spitting skills.

After a trip to the grocery store to pick up a seeded watermelon (that’s a watermelon WITH seeds, even though “seeded” might sound like it has no seeds), I stepped into my backyard to begin my first practice session. It was then that I realized I didn’t know the first thing about watermelon seed spitting technique, so I ran back into the house to scour the Internet for tips. Fifteen minutes later, I was back outside and ready to resume my training.

My first few attempts did not sail nearly as far as I thought they would. Certainly less than Lee Wheeler’s world record distance of 68 feet, 9 1/8 inches (set at the World Seed Spitting Championships at the Luling Watermelon Thump in 1989). In fact, my third seed tripped over my bottom lip and stuck to my knee. I didn’t even know how to measure that one. I estimated my best seed traveled around 40 feet. After a few minutes of searching through the grass, I measured it at a more realistic 24 feet, 6 inches. I definitely had my work cut out for me.

After a few dozen more shots (spits?), I decided to take my craft into street in front of my house so I could more easily spot the seeds on the street instead of searching aimlessly through the grass for them. Something about the notion that my neighbors could be watching me at any given moment (confused and/or disgusted, I’m sure) made me nervous, but it also helped me achieve much better distances.

By the time I was finished, my best seed traveled 35 feet, 3 inches (all the way past my mailbox and almost to my neighbor’s bird feeder!). Not bad. Not great, but not bad. I would return to the house, review some more video highlights of other champion spitters and call it a day. My training will continue… after I recover from a few minor spitting-related strains.

You can consider this another reminder about the National Watermelon Carving Contest, but you can also consider it the official announcement of the sweet prize package being offered to the contest winner. (Check out the announcement blog entry for details about the contest.)

It took me a while to come up with the ultimate prize package for this contest, but I think what I came up with would be a welcome addition to any watermelon fan’s kitchen. Here are the three items the winner of the Ultimate Watermelon Carving Contest will receive:

18X12 INCH JOHN BOOS MAPLE CUTTING BOARD

If you’re cutting a watermelon, you need a good cutting board, and John Boos boards are some of the best boards in the biz. Don’t believe me? Watch some of the cooking shows on TV and you’ll see the “Boos” logo on the side of their cutting surfaces.

What I like about this particular cutting board is that it includes a juice groove channel to catch the watermelon juice before it runs off the board and onto your feet. This happened to me just last week, thanks to my plain old flat cutting board without the juice groove channel.

STAINLESS STEEL WATERMELON KITCHEN KNIFE

As a self-proclaimed watermelon geek, I’m ashamed to admit this, but I never knew there was such a thing as a “watermelon knife” until now. So when I found this gem online, I knew I had to include it in this prize package (and order one for myself).

This 17-inch stainless steel watermelon knife has a much longer blade than the standard chef’s knife I use at home. It also has a watermelon wedge stamped on the blade, leaving no room for error when try to figure out what this nifty knife is used for.

WATERMELON PAPER TOWEL AND NAPKIN HOLDER

Cutting watermelon can get pretty messy, which is why it’s nice to have some paper towels handy. This paper towel holder, which includes a napkin holder in the front, will help get the job done in style!

So there you have it! A prize package fit for a watermelon-loving king (or queen). I hope you agree that it provides more than enough incentive to enter the National Watermelon Carving Contest. I may be a little biased, but if I could enter this contest, I definitely would. Good luck, and if anyone has any questions about the contest, don’t hesitate to ask!

Just checking in to see how everyone’s watermelon carvings are coming for the National Watermelon Carving Contest. If you’re not familiar with the contest, here’s a recap in 50 words or less:

Carve a watermelon basket (nothing fancy, maybe something like this). Send photos to watermelonexperts@gmail.com before August 31. I’ll pick four of the best. Readers will check them out and pick their favorite here on the blog in August. The winner will receive a prize which will be announced next week. Official rules can be found here.

By now, you should at least have an idea of what type of basket you want to carve. If not, don’t sweat it, just check out some of the designs on the National Watermelon Promotion Board website for inspiration.

Here’s a good question from a What About Watermelon reader. This one is answered by Ryan Van Groningen, a fourth generation watermelon grower from California.

CASEY A. FROM ROYSTON, GA, ASKS: I’ve always thought being a watermelon farmer would be a pretty neat job and was wondering why you became a watermelon farmer. Out of all the different crops you could have grown, what made you choose watermelon?

For me, the decision to grow watermelon was easy because watermelon growing is a family tradition! My family’s farm is called Van Groningen & Sons and I’m a fourth generation grower. To put it simply, we love what we do!

My family has been farming since 1922, when my great grandfather Henry Van Groningen (that’s him in the picture above) began farming row crops here in California. In 1929, he moved to our current location in Ripon, CA, about 80 miles east of San Francisco, and the rest is history. Today, I help manage the farm along with the rest of my family, which includes my father, my brothers, my sister, and my cousin.

As for why we chose watermelon as one of the crops to build our farm around, I have to say a big reason is because watermelon is a fruit that everyone loves! We take great pleasure in watching people enjoy such a fun and healthy treat. Also, the watermelon industry is a fast and furious business in the summer months, which means there’s never a dull moment because of the high volume of demand. And when you’re a farmer, being busy is always a good thing!

I love pancakes. That’s actually an understatement. I can’t get enough of them. When I make pancakes – usually on a Saturday or Sunday morning, though sometimes for dinner during the week – I almost always make way too many of them.

I’ve also been known to experiment by throwing random ingredients into the batter, such as bananas, apples and cinnamon, chocolate chips or, on one adventurous morning, a certain fruity pebble-like cereal (it was pretty good!). The recipe below is next on my flapjack to-do list.

WATERMELON-STACKED BREAKFAST PANCAKES

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon butter
3 6-inch hot pancakes
1 1/2 cups minced seedless watermelon

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat the maple syrup with the butter until the butter melts. Place a hot pancake on a warmed plate and top with 1/3 of the syrup and one third of the watermelon.  Continue the process with the second and third pancake. Enjoy. (Is there any other option?!)

I was going to give away the awesome Adidas shoes below (created in watermelon colors as a special World Cup edition) as this month’s prize, but I couldn’t find them for sale anywhere online. Frustrating, I know. They would have made a great prize and a great addition to my own shoe collection.

So I decided to give away a pair of the super-cool Vans watermelon shoes seen below (available in Vans’ iconic Chukka, Era and Slip-on styles). But alas, I could not find them either. Really, I tried. I pride myself on my stellar web-searching skills, but I was stumped. If anyone finds the Adidas or Vans shoes for sale, let me know!

Determined to find something watermelon-related in footwear, I finally discovered the watermelon socks pictured below. Technically they’re women’s “cycling/running socks” but I’m guessing you could wear them around the house or any old time. I’ll choose one comment from all the comments left here on What About Watermelon in July to receive this cozy prize. Actually, make that TWO comments. What the heck… it’s National Watermelon Month.

As some of you might know, July is National Watermelon Month. As national food months go, National Watermelon Month, for me, is right up there with National Meat Month (January), National Peanut Butter Lover’s Month (November) and National Ice Cream Month (also July… yes, July will be a good month).

To celebrate National Watermelon Month, I’ve decided to use the What About Watermelon blog to host the “National Watermelon Carving Contest.” The rules are pretty simple and the prize is pretty nice, too (but more on that later… maybe).

All you need to do, between now and August 31, is send me photos of your  best watermelon carving. And when I say “carving,” I don’t mean those amazingly intricate carvings you’ve seen online. I’m talking about carved and hollowed out watermelons in the shape of cars, animals or just plain baskets and used to hold fruit salad. Sort of like the one above or  the one I made and wrote about previously on What About Watermelon.

Tips and ideas for carvings (feel free to make one of these) can be found on the National Watermelon Promotion Board website. At the end of August I’ll choose the four best carvings and post them here on What About Watermelon for a public vote in early September.

And now the good part. The winner of EACH category, as determined by the votes of watermelon fans across the nation, will receive… a very cool prize that I still need to figure out (anyone have any ideas?). Not bad for a little bit of work with your favorite fruit, huh? Throughout July and August, I’ll post reminders about the contest and some carving tips. The rest is up to you!

SEMI-OFFICIAL RULES

1. All carvings must be original creations, carved either by the person submitting the entry or with a little help from friends and family.

2. All entries must be accompanied by TWO photos: One photo of the finished carving (a few different photos from different angles is preferred) and one photo of the finished carving with the person submitting the entry. This part is important, so don’t forget to get both photos!

3. All entries must be emailed to watermelonexperts@gmail.com before midnight on August 31.

4. Have fun! This part is also important. It doesn’t matter what your finished carving looks like; just send the picture,  because it might be one of the final four chosen by me or an honorable mention featured here on the blog!

In Western culture, the piñata has become a party favorite. After all, who doesn’t love beating the stuffing out of something with a stick now and then? It’s also yielded more than its fair share of hilarious videos. Any time you put a stick in the hands of a five-year-old, blindfold him, spin him around a few times and tell him to swing said stick in a room full of people,  bad things are bound to happen to people standing within 10 feet.

In Japan, the piñata game has taken on a decidedly different twist. Instead of a papier-mache pony filled with candy, a watermelon is used as the target. The tradition is called suikawari and, according to Wikipedia:

The rules are similar to piñata. A watermelon is laid out, sometimes on a tarp, and participants one by one attempt to smash it open. Each is blindfolded, spun around three times, and handed a wooden stick, or bokken, to strike with. The first to crack the watermelon open wins. Afterward, the chunks of watermelon produced are shared among participants.

I’m happy to see that the stick, blindfold and spinning are still part of the game, even though I feel kind of bad for the watermelon. What’s missing is the candy that rains from the ceiling, but to be quite honest, I’d rather have pieces of watermelon anyhow!

Below is a video of a game of suikawari. In this one, the watermelon wins!

My apologies to Alice Cooper for the title, but it’s true. School is, indeed, out for the summer. Has been for several weeks for some kids. Which brings me to the topic of this post: kid-friendly watermelon recipes.

And by “kid-friendly” I mean recipes that are either easy for kids to make or recipes that kids would enjoy eating… or both! The National Watermelon Promotion Board website has a whole list of kid-friendly watermelon recipes for you to sample from. And here’s a hint: Even if you’re not a kid or don’t have any kids, these recipes are still fun to make!

Below are five of my favorites, presented in picture format. Click on the title to view the recipe.

Snow Capped Mountains

Watermelon Pizza Supreme

Watermelon Cupcakes

Watermelon Kabobs

Watermelon Sandwich Cookies

June 21 marks the official start of summer and the official start of my favorite time of the year. Yes, it’s partly because it’s “watermelon season” (even though I always say that “watermelon season” is all year), but also because I’m an outdoor person and summer gives me a chance to get outdoors without the rain of the spring and the chill of autumn.

Of course, summer also means baseball season is in full swing. My calendar this summer is kind of crowded, but I like it that way.

Camping trips, golf outings, weekend vacations, baseball games (watched and played in), they’ll all be there. I’ll also be welcoming my own little watermelon in August. And by “watermelon,” I mean a baby boy or girl. It’ll be our first, and we’re not sure if it’s a boy watermelon or a girl watermelon, but either one will be pretty sweet!