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Science

Shrinking The Watermelon 59

Posted by Hemos from the very-very-tiny dept.
Makarand writes "Scientists who have already eliminated seeds and sweetened the watermelon have now miniaturized this fruit to the size of a cantaloupe. Only the outer speckled shell looks give a clue to what fruit it really is. Syngenta, a Swiss agribusinesses' North American subsidiary has brought this minimelon to the market in 30 states to satisfy customers who favor something that is easier to store and less troublesome to prepare for consumption. No biotech or genetic engineering at work here - the company merely crossed different breeds of watermelons to produce the minimelon."
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Shrinking The Watermelon More

Shrinking The Watermelon

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  • Oblicatory Google Affliate Link (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 16, 2003 @07:32AM (#6210686)
    Here [nytimes.com]

  • Genetic Engineering (Score:3, Interesting)

    by GigsVT ( 208848 ) * on Monday June 16, 2003 @07:35AM (#6210697) Journal
    Selective breeding sounds a whole lot like genetic engineering to me.

    In any case, I bet these will be popular in Japan, if the stories I have heard about watermelons and Japan are true.

    • Just for the record; (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Astatine210 ( 528456 ) on Monday June 16, 2003 @07:49AM (#6210744)
      Genetic Engineering: Creating a new organism by directly altering its genetic code (most notably by 'splicing' code from other organisms into it). Understandably, this idea freaks people out. I must say it doesn't make me particularily comfortable. Selective Breeding: Overriding the subtle hand of Natural Selection in species' evolution with human choice; ie. hand-picking which organism will breed with which. It's the origin of just about every 'domesticated' species, such as wheat, dairy cattle, and (er, I think) brewer's yeast. Selective Breeding is where Chihuahuas, Pekes and Devon Rexes come from, so it's not entirely in my good books either.
    • Then we all practise it. Think about how many ppl marry so that there kids have a better percieved chance in life. Some do it by chasing money, others look for the intelligent or cute spouse. No matter what, it is a form of selective breeding. In fact, it is no different than this.

  • Miniaturized? Hah! (Score:4, Funny)

    by Traderdot ( 677425 ) on Monday June 16, 2003 @07:36AM (#6210700) Homepage
    Who cares about small watermelons when you can have square watermelons [bbc.co.uk]?
    • That's the problem with the Simpsons. You never know when something is real. Of course it's not real that it would pop back to a spheroid shape. But I think even in the show it cost 10,000 Yen.
    • From the linked BBC article:

      Each melon sells for 10,000 yen, equivalent to about $83. It is almost double, or even triple, that of a normal watermelon.

      So a normal watermelon costs $28 in Japan??? I'm guessing they are imported and not common in that country.

  • White man's reparation (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Seedless, five pounds, and perfectly spherical, Syngenta's patented minimelon
    â" under the brand name PureHeart â"

     Just to let you know, I've patented DNA.
    I expect you all to send me 5 Euros or be killed.
    • You can't patent DNA--its GPL'd. ;)

      Seriously, you can patent the _sequence_ of DNA--which is proprietary code, and subject to all IP laws and such... which is what they've done here. Or at least, I hope they did... if not, there going to be really pissed when someone sequences their Minimelon DNA and copyright's it.

      I'm still waiting for the GPL'd Minimelon, which will run better and faster than all Minimelons previous.

  • What?? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by ilbrec ( 170056 ) on Monday June 16, 2003 @08:05AM (#6210831)
    What's the big deal?? They have those small watermelons in Japan for many years (some watermelons are as small as a softball). I know this, as I worked in watermelon shipping warehouse in Japan for a while.
    • Nowhere else on the web will someone pipe up with an authoritive opinion on a subject, and the experience to back it up. "I worked in watermelon shipping warehouse in Japan for a while"Christ.
    • I once grew a watermellon the size of a racketball. It was fully mature as well. I can't taste sweet so I can't garuntee that personally, but other people found it tasty. What little there was of it. I just planted it later in the season.

  • No genetic engineering? I don't think so.... (Score:3, Troll)

    by wowbagger ( 69688 ) * on Monday June 16, 2003 @08:07AM (#6210843) Homepage Journal
    No biotech or genetic engineering at work here - the company merely crossed different breeds of watermelons to produce the minimelon.


    Excuse me, but what do you think cross-breeding is?

    Crossbreeding IS genetic engineering - just because no gene splicing is involved does not change that.

  • Less testing as well (Score:3, Informative)

    by mlush ( 620447 ) on Monday June 16, 2003 @08:11AM (#6210860)
    No biotech or genetic engineering at work here

    This does not mean that there is less risk, 'normal' plant breeding is quite capable of producing something toxic on its own

  • Get in my belly! (Score:5, Funny)

    by thinmac ( 98095 ) on Monday June 16, 2003 @09:52AM (#6211613) Homepage
    Even the store clerks at Vons seemed taken with the little melons.

    "Those are the cutest baby watermelons," one said on a pass through the produce section. "Aren't those like little babies?" said another.

    The real news here is the shocking news that Vons employees like to eat babies. Compared to the image of grocery store checkout workers huddled around cute little baby-sized spheres, cracking them open and eating the sweet, sweet red insides, tiny watermellons just doesn't sound all that disturbing.

    Of course, maybe you think tiny watermellons aren't supposed to be disturbing, but that's just because you're tiny fruit desensitized.

  • Flavour (Score:2, Interesting)

    by loveaxelrod ( 544393 )
    I think that reducing the size of the watermelon would dramatically increase the flavour, considering it's the same amount of fruit and juice, but compressed into a smaller space. You can achieve the same effect by "super-ripening", a process whereby a melon is over-ripened. Melons which have been super-ripened have superior flavour - though this is something I read somewhere, I have yet to see such a melon should it exist.

    Can anyone confirm this??
    • I saw these at the local market about a month ago, and I impulse bought one. It was a little on the watery side (in other words, the flavor wasn't terribly intense), but then that wasn't exactly the best time of year for watermelon, so it's not exactly a definitive taste test.
      • It's density, not size. What you propose would be like assuming a 3 year old has as much blood in them as an adult. They don't. If they did, these mini melons would weigh 20 pounds from holding water, and there would be no room for meat.
        • You misunderstand me, a correct analogy would be to shrink an adult to the size of a 3 year old. Thus they would have the same amount of blood. The process of over-ripening is, I believe, akin to sun drying tomatoes. As the melon ripens it shrinks, but the flesh inside remains - thus there is the same amount of flesh compressed into a smaller space. Flavour, naturally, increases.
  • When are they going to engineer the taste back in?

    Bill

  • Easier to prepare? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by SoCalChris ( 573049 ) on Monday June 16, 2003 @10:57AM (#6212364) Journal
    and less troublesome to prepare for consumption

    I never knew it was that hard to cut a watermelon into quarters and put it on a plate.
  • Softball sized? much too large.

    We had spherical watermelon seeds ordered from catalog in (circa) 1975. We were on the borderline of their recommended growing climate in Maine, so they grew to merely baseball to softball size by autumn. Tasty, but small -- single-serving size. Many of them fit in my windbreaker pocket, for eating after school while scoring a soccer game. Much amazment from folks who'd never seen a tiny, round watermelon.

    Bill
    wdr or n1vux as appropriate

  • Where's the demand? (Score:3, Funny)

    by metamatic ( 202216 ) on Monday June 16, 2003 @03:00PM (#6215117) Homepage Journal
    I would have thought the American consumer would have wanted larger melons. That's the impression I get from The Man Show, anyway.

    Actually, I remember a story on BBC news that some researchers had discovered that women prefer buying smaller melons because it makes them feel less nervous about their chest size.

    Curiously, this psychological phenomenon doesn't seem to stop men buying foot-long hot dogs or subs.

  • Bah. (Score:3, Funny)

    by Bowling Moses ( 591924 ) on Monday June 16, 2003 @04:19PM (#6215949) Journal
    My roomate and I grew a watermellon in our backyard last summer. It was the size of a golfball. Then the slugs ate it--since one slug stayed out in the middle of the yard until midmorning and risked being eaten by the crows it must have been darn tasty. Stupid slugs.

    So, um, take THAT!
  • I have seen these at our local Supermarket for about the last 6 months, but only last week my roommate and I bought one. The size was definitely easier to handle (you can just halve it and scoop out the flesh like a grapefruit) and no seeds was nice, but frankly, I didn't think the taste was up to par. My parents have a normal watermelon and the flesh is very sweet with a sugary consistency, but this was quite bland with a stiffer consistency in your mouth. I guess we'll just get used to the sub-par flav
  • How to recognize real news from Public Relation:
    The PR stuff is usualy better written and more funny. The smarter journalist often end up in better-paying jobs at agency, writing the "news" for their lazy colleagues at newspaper.

    I loved the Vons clerk story, though.

    [I may be little paranoid, but that does not mean that nobody is trying to shrink me with these mutant melons]
  • Just cut what you can't eat from a normal watermelon into ice-cube sized pieces and freeze them on a cookie sheet. Place in ziplock bag when they're frozen. Then, later, take a handful of pieces, put them in a blender with some sugar syrup, grenadine, and a dash of salt. Blend and serve - mmmm...

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