Words on Wellness

July is National Watermelon Month

     “Watermelon—it’s a good fruit. You eat, you drink, you wash your face!”—Enrico Caruso

     Watermelon is delightful, no doubt. It’s a sweet, low-calorie, fat-free food. Did you know watermelon is also a good source of vitamins A, B6, and C? Vitamin A promotes good eyesight. Vitamin B6 helps make antibodies and maintains blood sugar and nerve function. Vitamin C helps heal wounds.

Watermelon is a good source of potassium and magnesium, which aid in muscle and heart function. It’s 92 percent water, making it an excellent thirst quencher. Finally, watermelon is high in lycopene. Lycopene reduces blood pressure and cancer risk and maintains healthy skin.

Easy ways to enjoy watermelon:

     • Cut up bites of fresh watermelon.

     • Dip in yogurt.

     • Blend into a slushy or smoothie.

     • Freeze and enjoy as a fruit popsicle.

Cutting and Storing Fresh Fruit

     It is important to cut and store watermelon and other fruit properly for quality and safety. First, begin by washing your hands. You should also wash the outside of watermelon or other fruit using a vegetable brush and cool water. Bacteria lingering on the outer surface of fruit, like watermelon, can transfer into the fruit when cutting.

Cut your melon this way:

     • Cut off the ends, to provide a fat base.

     • Place the knife where the white rind meets the red flesh. Following the curve of the fruit, cut off the rind.

     • Cut the whole watermelon into disks, with the width of the disks being the same width you want the diced cubes to be.

     • With the disks facing down, cut same size strips in both directions, “dicing” the melon.

     The ISU Extension and Outreach website Spend Smart. Eat Smart. also has a video called “How to Cut a Melon,” at blogs.extension.iastate.edu/spendsmart, showing how to cut and prepare melon. Store watermelon at 40°F or lower in the refrigerator. Bacteria can grow in cut melon that is held at higher temperatures.