Blended in a margarita. Cut up with feta and mint (seriously good). Or just sliced, cold from the fridge, with nothing to garnish or alter it, except maybe the pinchiest pinch of salt. The watermelon is probably the melon we can all agree on; even suckable watermelon candy, with its particular bright near-watermelon flavor, makes the mouth water. Did your ears just go squidgy? Yes. We're hoping.
Maybe that's one reason -- our universal mania for this melon -- that's kept the Sunland/Tujunga Watermelon Festival rolling, like a big ol' fat melon rolls, for nearly a half century. People like to eat the stuff, get messy, get sticky, get it all over their clothes and be happy about it. They like to sample various recipes. And they really like to spit seeds.
The festival, which slices it up August 14th-16th in Sunland, has a bevy of juicy goings-on, but naturally the seed spitting draws attention, fascination, and bold competitors. Anyone can do it -- three seeds, one dollar, ready, set, go -- and there are prizes you're spitting for (including cash for seeds that go the distance; check out the specifics).
A seed spitter sent his little mouth-projected pod over 68 feet in 2008. If we start practicing, right now, this instant. maybe. Maybe.
