WEBVTT - Watermelons: Nature's Gift to the World 0:00:01.440 --> 0:00:04.240 Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of I 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:13.280 Heart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:15.800 and there's Chuck and this is Stuff you Should Know, 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:25.960 featuring Jerry and Livia on watermelons. I don't know. I 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:27.960 think I just literally came out with this idea because 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:30.880 I was eating watermelon and I was like, you know what, 0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:35.640 watermelons delicious? But I know there's a history there, and 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:39.560 I know there are square watermelons, and and like, uh, 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:42.360 I don't know if you're like me, but like like 0:00:42.520 --> 0:00:46.240 nine eleven and like when Reagan was shot. I remember 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:47.959 where I was the day that I saw my first 0:00:48.000 --> 0:00:52.400 square watermelon. Huh yeah. It was during house to work. 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:54.720 I think it might have even been you. I showed 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:58.480 you a square watermelon. I mean not in person, but 0:00:58.600 --> 0:01:00.840 they're expensive. You're like, hey, come here and look at 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:02.880 this over my shoulder and I was like, la, la, 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:05.080 what's going I opened up my trench coat and there 0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:09.959 was a square watermelon. But yeah, I think I just 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:14.560 the square watermelon has uh enchanted me for years now, 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:17.119 and I didn't even know that they were heart shaped 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:21.320 watermelons until two days ago. That's so cute? Are you bombed. 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:26.319 Now that you understand the how the watermelons get so square, well, no, 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:30.800 because I knew how they got square. But whoever told 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:33.679 me about this and how stuff works at our old 0:01:33.760 --> 0:01:37.959 job told me it was because in Japan they have 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:42.240 small refrigerators and they make them to fit more easily 0:01:42.280 --> 0:01:44.720 in a Japanese refrigerator. But I don't think that that 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:48.600 part is true, right, That I believe, based on what 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:53.160 I've read, is a myth that we're gonna crumble. Yeah, 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:57.920 should be going from square watermelons? Yeah? Sure? Why not? So? 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:01.200 Um they were invented in Japan and as pretty much 0:02:01.240 --> 0:02:04.279 all perfect things were, And there was a guy named 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:07.840 um Tomoyuki on No and he was an artist. He 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:10.560 also happened to be a horticulturist and back in the 0:02:10.600 --> 0:02:13.359 seventies he figured out how to make square watermelons and 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:17.800 created a patent on it. And they're so charming that 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:20.160 within a year they were all they were ready for sale. 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:22.400 They went from an art gallery like basically an art 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:26.040 project too for sale in Tokyo within you know, less 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:29.320 than one years. Uh. And they are grown in Japan 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:32.720 and they are grown in containers. Uh. And it's sort 0:02:32.720 --> 0:02:34.639 of like a goldfish. They grow to fit their container, 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:38.520 including the round ones and the pyramid shaped ones, which 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:42.519 are really interesting looking, but they are not very good 0:02:42.560 --> 0:02:45.880 to eat, and they cost about a hundred bucks in Japan. 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:49.639 And so I think that it is definitely a crumbled 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:54.640 myth that they are grown justifitted into Japanese refrigerators. Yeah, 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:59.359 because nobody eats them. You don't eat them, so myth crumbled. 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:06.600 And as a Japanese refrigerator small, that is probably true. Yes, 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:10.000 I mean most most appliances in Japan are smaller than 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:12.399 the ones you find in America. I think America leads 0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:17.000 away in humongous appliances, right yeah, and humongous portions and 0:03:17.040 --> 0:03:21.480 stuff like that. Us everything we need humongous appliant. So yeah, 0:03:21.520 --> 0:03:23.480 I mean, if you haven't ever seen a square watermelon 0:03:23.560 --> 0:03:26.799 or a heart shaped watermelon, especially at heart shaped watermelon 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:29.400 is cut open, because that's the real money shot. Oh, 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:32.480 I hadn't thought about that. It's it's really amazing looking 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:35.880 in a little bit of a brain twister, do you know, 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:38.160 I'm such a loser. I didn't bother to look up 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:41.000 what a heart shaped watermelon looks like, like what a 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:43.360 heart looks like, you know what waterlon looks like? Yeah, 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:46.160 let's put together. And then you said cut open. I'm like, 0:03:46.920 --> 0:03:49.680 cut open, yes, you gotta see that. And the little 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:52.160 the pyramid when it looks more like a hurchies kiss, 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:56.640 like a giant arches kiss. Okay, I imagine like pretty 0:03:56.680 --> 0:04:00.720 much a perfect rounded edged pyramid. But she's kiss. I could, 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:02.560 which is would be great for a fridge because part 0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:05.880 of the problem with a watermelon in the fridge is 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:08.000 the shape. Those things roll around in there and they're 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:11.160 huge that it is a big problem. But as we'll see, 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:14.720 you shouldn't really be keeping in the fridge very much anyway. Um, 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:18.440 but let's talk watermelons where they came from, because they 0:04:18.640 --> 0:04:23.120 It turns out watermelons are beloved around the world. I mean, 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:26.960 people love watermelons around the world. From what I read, Chuck, 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:33.400 there's only livestock have more agricultural land dedicated to raising 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:37.440 them than watermelons. They take up so much space, but 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:40.039 people love them so much that they just go ahead 0:04:40.040 --> 0:04:44.279 and give the watermelons the space. And apparently by weight, 0:04:44.400 --> 0:04:47.880 it's the third most eaten fruit in the world, really 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:53.560 the second because the tomato. Come on, I mean it's like, 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:56.120 but like, if you think fruit, I'm just gonna go 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:58.320 ahead and say the order is banana than watermelon. As 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:02.560 far as most eaten, I agree. I think calling a 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:05.320 tomato fruit is like saying cooded grass at a party. 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:09.560 You're saying a brownie's a cookie? Right? Yeah? What kind 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:12.279 of a jerk would say something stupid like that, especially 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:15.320 insist on it in in a pedantic army That wasn't 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:18.160 even you. You were just you were seeing stuff online, right, 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:23.159 you didn't invent that? Yeah, I was misled by internet rumors. Uh. 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:26.839 The watermelon, though, is a berry technically, which means it 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:28.960 has the outer part is hard, it's got a fleshy 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:31.719 metal and then the inner part is softer and has 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:35.080 the seeds. Uh. We'll get to the ced part later, 0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:37.800 of course, because we don't really have seeds in our 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:41.600 watermelons anymore. And then, if you want to talk more specific, 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:44.479 it's called a peppo p e p o, which means 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:47.920 as a thick rind, like a squash or a pumpkin. 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:51.160 You're going with peppo. I'm I don't care what it's 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:57.640 called peepo for me, peepo peepo watermelons peepo, dude, I 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:01.159 love it. Yeah, peepo. Okay, and it's a berry too. 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:04.520 I mean, watermelons just got twice as good to me. Yeah. 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:07.560 I dare you to go to the uh grocery store 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:09.120 next time and say, hey, where do you keep the 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:18.080 people berries? The square ones? You've got these square people berries. Security. So, 0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:21.719 watermelons are also related to squash and pumpkin, but they're 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:25.200 most closely related to cucumbers because they're part of the q. 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:29.560 Curbitacea family. Um, and other melons are too, but I 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:34.080 believe cucumbers and watermelons are pretty close together, um, even 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:37.359 though you wouldn't necessarily know it to look at them. 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:44.440 But specifically, watermelon species are Citrellis leonatus, and all of 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:47.240 the different kinds of watermelons that we have from what 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:53.160 I understand, our varieties of that species. That's right. Uh. 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:55.840 And we've known for a long time that watermelons came 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:59.159 from Africa. Thank you Africa for this gift to the world. 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:02.400 But it was more recently where they kind of zeero 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:05.719 it in on exactly where Uh. There are a lot 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:09.160 of melons in Africa that you could call a watermelon. Um, 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:15.120 they are different kinds of citrilis uh citrilus citrilush either 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:20.760 one okay species uh, but these are a little more pale. 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:23.760 They're not like that deep sweet red and which means 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:26.320 they're not going to be a sweet either let in taste. 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:29.920 So they're they're more bitter or more bland. Uh. And 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:32.240 they can be used over there. They still use these things. 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:34.840 They'll mash up the seeds and using them to thicken 0:07:34.880 --> 0:07:38.120 a soup, or maybe they'll just eat the seeds, roast 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:40.840 them up and eat them, or maybe they'll use them 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:44.000 for water, just like clean water, because a watermelon is 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:47.680 mostly water. Yeah, I think um oh, I can't remember 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:50.480 the main character and the gods must be Crazy's name, 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:54.880 but he cuts open like uh something that I assume 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:58.119 is of a species of watermelon and drinks the water 0:07:58.240 --> 0:08:01.000 out of it. Um. So yeah, there's a bunch of 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:04.200 different kinds of species of watermelons, but none of them 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:08.239 are like the ones that we um commercially grow and produce, 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:12.520 which are typically referred to as dessert watermelons to differentiate 0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:16.160 that they're sweet and tasty and not like it. Yeah, 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:18.120 I ran across it, and that's I think. It's a 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:22.360 great little almost like cellar door dessert watermelon. Yeah, because 0:08:22.360 --> 0:08:27.400 you usually do hand it out after a meal. Uh, 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:30.120 it's a It's a great American tradition. It's delicious. I 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:34.440 have wonderful memories being a kid eating watermelon with my 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:37.120 granddad and spitting those seeds out back when they used 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:39.040 to have seeds where I would put them in between 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:42.440 my fingers because they're slippery, and I would shoot them. Uh. 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:45.320 Just great memories of watermelon. And I still love it. 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:49.679 And my daughter just can eat ungodly amounts of watermelon. 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:52.640 Is that right? Oh? Yeah, she loves it. That's cute. 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:55.520 It's delicious, it's sweet, it's watery. Who didn't like it? 0:08:56.240 --> 0:09:01.360 Apparently there's somebody who ranked watermelon and said it's gross 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:05.280 it it says that. Okay, The name of the fruit 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:07.760 literally tells you that eating it is going to be 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:10.640 the most boring experience of your life. It has the 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:13.679 same bland, mediocre taste of all the melons, except the 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:17.880 pleasantly chewy melon flashes are replaced by barely fruity flavored 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:22.520 wet sand What a fun, fun person to be around. 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:27.120 Please corner me at the next party I'm at. Yeah, 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:30.440 they probably say cooded grass. Give me all your opinions. 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:34.160 So you said that eating watermelon is a is a 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:39.600 great American tradition. Indeed, but Americans are relative newcomers compared 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:43.520 to other countries that have long standing traditions of enjoying 0:09:43.520 --> 0:09:46.920 watermelon too, because like you said, they've kind of figured 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:52.080 out that somewhere in Northeast Africa, perhaps Egypt, perhaps the 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:55.240 area that's now sudan Um where the Nubians used to 0:09:55.320 --> 0:10:02.320 run the show. They probably speaking on from recent genetic tests, um, 0:10:02.360 --> 0:10:06.560 are the ones who domesticated the watermelon over many, many hundreds, 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:09.600 if not thousands of years of just selecting for sweeter 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:14.800 and sweeter seeds. And then it spread, starting probably with Egypt, 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:18.320 because Egypt treated with everybody in the Mediterranean, uh, pretty 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:23.520 much everywhere. Um. It reached across the Mediterranean by uh 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:28.240 maybe twenty four to twenty years ago. It hit India strangely, 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:32.960 um the ninth century CE, so not that long ago. 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:35.880 China by the tenth century. So it's it's weird that 0:10:35.920 --> 0:10:38.520 it took that long, but it definitely spread. One of 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:40.440 the reasons why it did spread is because it's fairly 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:44.199 easy to grow, and it grows just about anywhere. It's 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:49.000 adapted from plants that can survive in semi arid conditions, 0:10:49.040 --> 0:10:51.480 you know. Yeah, and this you know, we have the 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:55.080 Spanish to think for bringing it to the America's and 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:58.840 you know, they introduced them to the Native Americans and 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:02.080 they were like, hey, a this is this grows like 0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:05.680 one of the three sisters are beloved squash. Uh and 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:07.959 so we think we could grow this stuff. And the 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:12.200 Native Americans grew it in abundance, traded it in abundance, 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:15.480 such that by the end of the seventeenth century there 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:18.760 was watermelon all over what we now call the United States. 0:11:19.200 --> 0:11:21.760 And when the Europeans arrived, they were like they thought 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:24.040 it was native to hear because they were growing so 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:26.280 much of it. Yeah, I guess as late as the 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:29.439 nineteen eighties they were like still debating whether it was 0:11:29.480 --> 0:11:33.199 of European origin or if if the North Americans had 0:11:33.200 --> 0:11:36.360 it first, but they've definitively traced it back to Africa. 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:40.480 What still um under debate, Chuck, is whether it was 0:11:40.559 --> 0:11:44.040 the Spanish that introduced it or oh yeah, or whether 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:46.600 it was some of the first um enslaved people from 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:49.680 West Africa that brought it over with them, UM that 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:54.319 I think is still up for debate. Oh interesting, Okay, yeah, yeah, 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:57.400 they'll get to the bottom of it someday. Uh. Livia 0:11:57.440 --> 0:12:00.480 does point out though, that there are different words for 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:04.960 watermelon that are completely unrelated in Arabic and Hebrew and 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:08.800 Sanskrit and Greek and Spanish, and that's a good indication 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:11.840 that it is if the words aren't like one another, 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:16.200 that they have all had watermelon for a long long time, right, 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:19.560 So watermelons all over the world. It's been a long 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:24.600 standing part of UM, the United States history pretty since 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:27.840 before the United States was even a thing. UM. And 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:33.040 Thomas Jefferson apparently famously grew watermelons at Monticello and so 0:12:33.120 --> 0:12:36.120 that there was nothing better than a Virginia watermelon, and 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:38.800 he was kind of onto something because apparently I don't 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:42.960 know if it was after Jefferson or not, but yeah, 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:45.439 it would have been after Jefferson. Because as the railroads 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:48.520 came along, UM, and it was getting easier and easier 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:52.800 to ship things like watermelons long distance. UM, they they 0:12:53.080 --> 0:12:56.760 developed a kind of watermelon that wasn't quite as good 0:12:56.760 --> 0:12:59.360 but traveled a lot better, and they would keep the 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:01.960 good stuff of themselves in the South, where the watermelon 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:06.280 naturally grows and flourishes best, and they would send these 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:08.480 other ones that didn't taste quite as good up north 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:11.920 because they figured they didn't know any different. That's right, 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:14.960 And um, you know, for there was a time in 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:19.800 America after the Civil War when former enslaved people actually 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:24.880 could support themselves and sustain themselves outside the plantations by 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:28.280 growing and selling watermelons and being farmers. But of course 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:32.079 that got ruined because uh, starting at about the Civil War, 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:35.000 white people turned it into a racist trope of black 0:13:35.040 --> 0:13:38.400 people eating watermelons, and it has been in everything from 0:13:38.600 --> 0:13:42.959 Birth of a Nation to uh to yard art kind 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:45.640 of supporting this racist trope over the years. Yeah, and 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:48.200 what really sucks about is that like it had its 0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:52.680 intended effect and that there are Black Americans who report 0:13:52.800 --> 0:14:00.240 still being uncomfortable eating watermelon around other white Americans, which 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:02.800 is it's just so maddening that that's still a thing, 0:14:03.400 --> 0:14:06.440 and I mean it is and it's going to be 0:14:06.480 --> 0:14:08.640 a thing until people just say like this is this 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:12.400 ridiculous And hopefully learning about the watermelon from us will 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:15.200 help some people say this is ridiculous and stupid, and 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:17.520 it's always been because one other thing about it, to 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:22.200 Chuck is that at the time, those same racist Southerners 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:25.880 and white people across the country who are associating watermelon, 0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:30.320 enjoying watermelon with with black people, we're enjoying it themselves. 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:33.920 They liked it just as much. It was just because 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:38.640 they could grow and sell watermelons and it represented freedom, 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:42.520 black independence, and that threatened them that they used watermelons 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:46.120 as a trope and just very juvenile e started equating 0:14:46.120 --> 0:14:49.160 it with all sorts of just dumb stuff. It's just 0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:55.440 so suck the stuff, Chuck. All right, well, let's take 0:14:55.480 --> 0:14:58.360 a break and uh, I'm gonna give you a little 0:14:58.360 --> 0:15:01.560 shoulder rub through the computer. Thank you. Thanks to be fantastic. 0:15:01.560 --> 0:15:04.320 It'll settle you down. And we're going to talk about 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:31.080 the great Charleston Gray right after this. Okay, I mentioned 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:33.480 Charleston Gray. If you're like, who's Charleston Gray? And why 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:36.520 do I care? It's a great hotel check in name. Yeah, 0:15:36.640 --> 0:15:38.960 that is pretty good. That's the kind that they comp 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:41.280 up free breakfast to. You know what I'm saying that 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:44.080 that's that kind of name. Well, Mr Gray, doctor Gray, 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:48.400 do you ever put any weird prefix when you're checking 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:52.640 into stuff and signing up for stuff. Sometimes esquire, all right, 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:57.320 I'll do esquire doctor. Usually it's always fun. I don't know, reverend. Occasionally, 0:15:57.440 --> 0:16:00.280 even though technically I am or reverend now, ID not 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:03.400 want to be cornered on that one, so never shied away. 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:06.960 But yeah, you can be like I've got the bona fides. Uh. 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:11.680 So Charleston Gray was uh is the name of not 0:16:11.800 --> 0:16:14.680 a human being, but it's the name of a watermelon. 0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:19.680 The humans name was Charleston and Charles Andres of the U. 0:16:19.720 --> 0:16:22.600 S d A's Agricultural Research Service, the A R s 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:27.480 UH and the vegetable Breeding Laboratory there, and he created 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:32.200 the Charleston Gray watermelon in ninety four. And why do 0:16:32.240 --> 0:16:36.880 you care? It's because of the watermelons grown all over 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:41.480 the world now have a lineage tied to the Charleston Gray. Yeah. 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:44.440 And so remember we said that like all of the 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:47.280 watermelons that you would ever come across or eat that 0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:49.760 you buy at a store, that's all just one species 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:54.320 of watermelon. They're just different varieties of those are related 0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:57.880 to the same variety. And that means that they came 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:01.280 upon one that tastes really good, ships really well. That 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:04.280 was a big one. It's also resistant to some diseases 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:08.040 and pests, but it also makes it extremely vulnerable. If 0:17:08.080 --> 0:17:12.280 there's ever a pest or a disease that can attack 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:15.240 the Charleston Gray, it's going to wipe out all the 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:19.560 watermelons because they're all very genetically similar. That's right, and 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:22.760 that's why the a RS not the Atlanta Rhythm section. 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:26.640 We're gonna have us a Champagne ing, all right, here 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:31.159 we go. A RS is still looking into how to 0:17:31.240 --> 0:17:34.320 make watermelons more hardy, and they're looking at why wild 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:37.960 watermelon species in Africa. They're looking at all kinds of 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:40.400 varieties around the world and looking how to breathe them 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:44.639 with less pesticides and that though, so the big watermelon 0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:48.000 apocalypse never happens. So yeah, one thing they're doing with 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:50.639 the reason that they're really looking at is there's something called, 0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:56.320 I think methyl bromide, which was like a fog pesticide 0:17:56.480 --> 0:18:00.119 and maybe fungicide, killed a bunch of stuff that that 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:04.440 um Charleston Grays are vulnerable too. But it also burns 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:06.359 a hole in the ozone layer. So it got banned 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:08.600 in Europe ten years ago, and it was recently banned 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:11.680 here in the United States, and so they're really trying 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:13.920 to figure this out. So they look to Europe and said, hey, Europe, 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:15.880 what do you do when you couldn't use methyl bromide? 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:19.199 In Europe said, we started using different roots stock. So 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:22.760 they'll take the rudy part of the plant from squash plants. 0:18:22.760 --> 0:18:26.320 Apparently you are really useful for this, and they graft 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:30.240 a um watermelon plant onto the top of it. The 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:33.159 top part of the watermelon plant stems and seeds and 0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:36.400 all that, and it grows together to create the superplant 0:18:36.440 --> 0:18:39.440 that has It produces great watermelons, but it's also resistant 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:42.240 to these diseases and pests, which goes back to the 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:46.280 Native Americans being great at growing watermelons because squash is 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:50.240 one of the three sisters exactly. It's really cool. I 0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:52.520 love that stuff. Maybe we should do a short stuff 0:18:52.800 --> 0:18:54.919 on the three sisters would be cool. You know they 0:18:55.000 --> 0:19:01.560 factored heavily into pops Up a bunch in that of course. Yeah. Um, 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:04.359 so we mentioned seedlessness because if you have eaten a 0:19:04.400 --> 0:19:11.240 watermelon in the past oh thirty something years, it's probably 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:13.840 doesn't have seeds like they did when you were a kid. 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:16.760 If you're an old timer like us, at least not 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:19.960 those big mature black seeds that were great for spitting 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:23.520 and uh and flicking. They have those little undeveloped white 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:27.000 seeds a little bit. But the seedless watermelon was another 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:32.280 invention by another Japanese geneticist. I think the other one 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:36.880 was an artist in horticulturalist, but this is geneticist Hitoshi Kihara, 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:41.720 and in ninety nine invented this seedless watermelon that started 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:46.359 being available in the nineteen fifties. And what's remarkable about 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:53.840 this is is that it's basically a manual operation that's 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:58.000 required to make seedless watermelons. Yeah, you use some something 0:19:58.080 --> 0:20:03.399 called culture is seen, which takes a regular diploid watermelon 0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:06.680 with two pairs of chromosomes two copies of the chromosome 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:10.880 um and turns it into a tetraploid, so that there's 0:20:10.920 --> 0:20:14.800 four copies of each chromosome. And you take the diploid 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:19.400 and the tetraploid and you pollinate them, you cross fertilize them, 0:20:19.440 --> 0:20:22.359 and what you produce is called a I think a 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:25.760 triploid and a triploid plant because it doesn't have an 0:20:25.760 --> 0:20:29.119 even number of copies of chromosomes. It's sterile, so it 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:32.440 doesn't produce seeds. So that's how you get your seedless watermelon. 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:35.879 And it's a real b word to raise seedless watermelons 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:39.040 because part of your crop has to be diploid, regular 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:44.520 seeded watermelons to use to fertilize them. But um, and 0:20:44.560 --> 0:20:46.200 at first, I guess farmers are kind of like, I'm 0:20:46.240 --> 0:20:48.840 not doing all that. Who wants a seedless watermelon anyway? 0:20:49.240 --> 0:20:55.000 And there was a guy named Oreste great name is like, 0:20:55.000 --> 0:20:58.040 people are gonna love this, and this guy just worked 0:20:58.040 --> 0:20:59.800 away at it, worked away at it, and kept for 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:03.760 affecting the seedless watermelon. Um. But it wasn't until the 0:21:03.880 --> 0:21:07.960 late eighties that um, he finally managed to get it 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:10.400 to take off. He partnered with a company called sun 0:21:10.440 --> 0:21:14.440 World International. Right, yeah, his first company was American Seedless 0:21:14.440 --> 0:21:19.080 Watermelon Corp. And uh, it took partnering with the giant, 0:21:19.600 --> 0:21:22.720 like a giant in the industry, a big agribusiness company 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:26.360 to to really have it take off. And it did. Um. 0:21:26.400 --> 0:21:28.040 But you know, like I said, it's amazing. I think 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:31.560 a lot of people, uh, I think it's a commodification 0:21:32.400 --> 0:21:35.600 and that is not true. It's actually a manual process that, 0:21:36.119 --> 0:21:37.760 like you said, is a real pain in the butt 0:21:37.800 --> 0:21:40.359 to farmers, and they had to get on board with 0:21:40.400 --> 0:21:42.280 this because the way they have to grow them and 0:21:43.119 --> 0:21:47.160 keep them separated, and uh, it's really a lot of work. 0:21:47.240 --> 0:21:50.399 But they were Uh, I guess or he was right 0:21:50.440 --> 0:21:52.880 on the money because people do love the seedless water. 0:21:52.920 --> 0:21:54.520 I kind of missed the seeds, but I have to 0:21:54.520 --> 0:21:58.360 admit the seedless or are easier to work with. Yeah, 0:21:58.400 --> 0:22:01.360 I think nine center are seedless. And if you walk 0:22:01.400 --> 0:22:03.480 into a grocery store today, Chuck, and you asked for 0:22:03.520 --> 0:22:05.560 a watermelon with seeds, you're gonna be hard pressed to 0:22:05.600 --> 0:22:09.000 find one because they're just seedless, are so prevalent, And 0:22:09.040 --> 0:22:13.240 it's so crazy to me, Like, I I realized that 0:22:13.359 --> 0:22:16.840 my niece Mila, who stars as j in the twentieth 0:22:16.840 --> 0:22:20.639 century Fox movie No Exit, has was born into a 0:22:20.680 --> 0:22:24.560 world where there's never really been a seeded watermelon. She's 0:22:24.600 --> 0:22:27.679 never seen a seeded watermelon in her life. Yeah, Like 0:22:27.720 --> 0:22:31.080 she wouldn't walk into a grocery store and say can 0:22:31.119 --> 0:22:37.119 I have a square seated pepa berry? You know, and 0:22:37.160 --> 0:22:39.679 they would say, hey, wait a minute, aren't you The 0:22:39.720 --> 0:22:45.200 star of the Hulu hit motion picture Its stars such 0:22:45.200 --> 0:22:47.480 a relative term, isn't it. Where did they shoot? That 0:22:47.520 --> 0:22:51.840 was Atlanta, New Zealand. Oh geez, m man, So she's 0:22:51.840 --> 0:22:54.119 really get to live the life, huh. They shot it 0:22:54.240 --> 0:22:56.560 in New Zealand at the height of the pandemic, when 0:22:56.560 --> 0:22:59.200 New Zealand had like zero cases. That's where you want 0:22:59.200 --> 0:23:01.320 to be. Yeah, it was pretty neat, but they had 0:23:01.320 --> 0:23:04.359 to like quarantine and everything for fourteen days on either side, 0:23:04.400 --> 0:23:07.040 and it was really something. But yeah, they she know 0:23:07.200 --> 0:23:09.320 she went. It was a real real shoot, all right. 0:23:09.400 --> 0:23:12.440 So eating watermelons, you think, like it's such an American thing. 0:23:13.240 --> 0:23:17.240 We surely lead the world in watermelon consumption, and we 0:23:17.280 --> 0:23:19.720 eat a lot. We eat about fifteen pounds per person 0:23:19.800 --> 0:23:22.960 per year here in America, to the tune of about 0:23:23.000 --> 0:23:27.159 five billion pounds of watermelon a year. But Jack, that 0:23:27.200 --> 0:23:32.399 ain't nothing compared to China. In Chinese residents ate more 0:23:32.440 --> 0:23:36.679 than a hundred and fifty billion pounds of watermelon. Yeah, 0:23:36.840 --> 0:23:40.400 that's fifty ms per capita. So we in the US 0:23:40.480 --> 0:23:43.840 fifteen pounds per person a year. They eat a hundred 0:23:43.880 --> 0:23:47.280 and ten pounds of watermelon per person per year. I 0:23:47.320 --> 0:23:50.360 had no idea it was so big in China. Well, yeah, 0:23:50.400 --> 0:23:52.359 I mean it's and again it's been there for over 0:23:52.400 --> 0:23:56.160 a thousand years, so they've they've had a long time 0:23:56.200 --> 0:23:59.840 to really come to appreciate the watermelon and Buddy do 0:24:00.040 --> 0:24:03.040 day ever, Well, we grow about two thirds of our 0:24:03.080 --> 0:24:06.760 own watermelon here in the US. The rest generally comes 0:24:06.760 --> 0:24:12.720 from Mexico. You probably are eating Florida watermelon. Maybe Georgia 0:24:12.800 --> 0:24:17.000 is number two, followed by Texas and California. But Florida 0:24:17.080 --> 0:24:19.520 is great for growing those watermelons because of the weather, 0:24:20.200 --> 0:24:24.040 because watermelons don't do well in the cold, so you 0:24:24.040 --> 0:24:26.560 can kind of grow them year round in Florida. Yeah, 0:24:26.640 --> 0:24:29.399