Is Watermelon A Fruit Or A Vegetable Juicy Fruit Facts Revealed

Everybody loves a good slice of watermelon on a hot summer day.Watermelons are delicious fruits that are extremely refreshing but there is a lot of confusion about how to identify a watermelon. However, there are many gardeners today who consider watermelons to be vegetables as they are related to the gourd family which includes cucumbers, pumpkins, and squash!Coming from the Cucurbitaceae plant family, watermelons are called this because contain about 92% water content. You can eat all the parts of a watermelon, both the smooth exterior rind and the sweet interior flesh. This indicates that the watermelon is a zero-waste food as every part of the watermelon from the green skin to the sweet ripe flesh can be eaten. In many parts of the world, like China, the outer ring of watermelon is often marinated and fried. In Russia, people make pickled watermelon rind and it’s a delicacy. Many Asian cultures pickle the watermelon rinds too with a variety of savory spices. Across the Middle East, watermelon seeds are dried like pumpkin seeds and eaten as a light snack!It is believed that there are almost 50 different types of watermelons, and it is unlikely you have tasted all of them! The four most basic types of watermelons that many people are familiar with today are seedless watermelons, picnic watermelons, icebox watermelons, and orange or yellow flesh watermelon. The seedless watermelon is one that was created in the ’90s and is a result of cross-breeding. It’s originally believed to be the fruit of a plant that came from a vine native to South Africa. Whether the watermelon is a fruit or a vegetable is a much-debated topic among gardeners. The method of growing watermelon is similar to that of other vegetable production systems. The state of Oklahoma in the USA has named watermelons as the official state vegetable! A watermelon is planted from its seeds and harvested just like other vegetables. Gardeners plant them in the spring season and harvest them in the late summer season. Watermelon has a growing period that takes more time than other melons, taking up to 85 days or more for the fruit to mature. They require rich soil, good quality fertilizer, and lots of water like most garden veggies.If you enjoyed this article on whether a watermelon is a fruit or vegetable, be sure to check out our other articles on fishing for kids facts you didn’t know before or egg binding interesting facts that you are sure to enjoy.Classification of WatermelonYou’ll often hear your science teacher tell you that watermelon is made up of 93% water, This is true! These fruits are sweet and delicious and can be especially refreshing on a hot day.A watermelon, with a scientific name Citrullus lanatus, comes from the Cucurbitaceae family which consists of plants with sprawling vines and melons. In general, a melon is a big round fruit with a soft, sweet, and fleshy inside but a hard layer of outside skin. They are a member of gourd family that includes squash, pumpkin, and cucumber. However, even though they come from the same family as melons, the watermelon does not belong to the same genus Cucumis that a melon comes from. The watermelon plant is an plant that grows annually and does well in hot climates too.Their vines tend to grow on the ground and they have tendrils that branch out. This is why many see this sweet fruit as a vegetable because of the way they agriculturally grow and they are grown from seeds that are planted annually. Furthermore, according to the Webster dictionary, a vegetable is anything that is grown out of plants and since watermelon is grown like plants, it can be treated like a vegetable. Watermelon seeds can come in different colors like black, dark brown, tan, and white.Is a watermelon a cucumber?This question has caused a lot of confusion among gardeners! Some claim watermelons to be cucumbers or rather, vegetables, while others firmly hold their ground by saying that watermelon is a fruit. Cucumbers and watermelons belong to the same family called the Cucurbitaceae family and this family houses many other similar vines too. Nonetheless, people who support the idea of a watermelon being a cucumber have strong theories to support them.For instance, there is a fruit called a cucamelon which looks like mini watermelon but tastes exactly like a cucumber but they are not a hybrid of the two! There is even an interesting trick that cooks pull when putting together salads where they sprinkle a little sugar on cucumber slices, resulting in them tasting almost like watermelons!You can try your hand at this fun flavor chemistry at home too and see if it is for real. This little experiment further justifies why many people have the idea that watermelons are cucumbers.Fruits Bigger Than A WatermelonA watermelon can grow to a very large size. In fact, in many countries like the USA, Austria, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the UK, competitions are held among farmers, gardeners, and people to encourage them to grow watermelons to the largest size possible and then compete against each other. The person with the biggest watermelon goes home with an amazing reward!In the fruit family, there is one fruit called the jackfruit that is capable of growing to a size that can be many times more than a watermelon. Jackfruits can grow so big that once they reach their full size, it is important to quickly harvest them as there is the danger of them falling on someone’s head which can cause fatal consequences. If you are wondering about what a jackfruit tastes like, it has soft light yellow flesh that is sweet to taste and a very strong smell. The smell can be so strong that it can be quite nauseating for some people.Plants You Can Grow Next To WatermelonOriginally, this fruit was from a vine from South Africa. Watermelons are compatible plants that accommodate almost all kinds of vegetables.Some of these vegetables include roots like carrots, leafy vegetables like brussels sprouts, kale, lettuce, cabbage, and even cauliflower and broccoli. Usually, watermelon seeds are planted in the spring season and they are harvested during the late summer period. The sweet watermelon is also grown just like any other vegetable crop.Did You Know…Watermelons with their sweet taste are recognized as being elite fruits that come from the same family as cucumber and squash, and there is a really small type of fruit almost the size of a grape that looks exactly like a miniature watermelon. These small and cute fruits look exactly like watermelons but taste like cucumbers and they are called cucamelons!There is something called a ‘hollow heart’ that you might have seen from time to time that occurs when watermelon flesh develops a hole or splits asymmetrically. This is caused due to poor pollination. There is vague speculation going around in the fruit community that the watermelon is a berry, just like a banana! This fruit, which becomes extremely popular during the summer, is classified as a berry because a fruit that comes under this category must have more than one seed and has to develop from a flower that has a single ovary.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked this article about whether a watermelon is a fruit or a vegetable, then why not take a look at a Sugar candy tale: how is cotton candy made? Cool fun facts for kids, or how is balsamic vinegar made? Know food facts about vinegar production that are sure to keep you on your toes.

Everybody loves a good slice of watermelon on a hot summer day.