National Watermelon Day

August 3, 2013 at 8:11 AM | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Foodimentary - National Food Holidays

National Watermelon Day

Five Food Finds about Watermelon

• The first recorded watermelon harvest occurred nearly 5,000 years ago in Egypt.

• Watermelon is 92% water.

• Watermelon’s official name is Citrullus Lanatus of the botanical family Curcurbitaceae. It is cousins to cucumbers,pumpkins and squash.

• By weight, watermelon is the most-consumed melon in the U.S., followed by cantaloupe and honeydew.

• Early explorers used watermelons as canteens.

 

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

1492 Christopher Columbus sailed from Spain on his first voyage to what he thought were the Indies.

1801 Sir Joseph Paxton was born. Paxton was an English landscape gardener, and hothouse designer. He was the architect of the Crystal Palace at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London.

1806 Michel Adanson was born. Adson was a French botanist who developed a system of plant classification based on physical characteristics. His system was opposed by Carolus Linnaeus, and was not…

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