ISSUE 42, MELONS, Part 3: Odell's White Watermelon
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Odell’s White Watermelon Though the botanical home of the watermelon is Africa, the varieties of melon sold as seed and at produce stands in the United States were shaped by American seedsmen of the 19th century. Only one commercial variety is known to have been bred by an African-American seedsman—the Odell’s White Watermelon, created by Harry, the foreman of pomologist Willism Summer’s Pomaria plantation in Pomaria, South Carolina in the 1840s. This huge (up to 60 lbs), round, light gray green skinned and pink fleshed melon was famed for its productivity, its delicately sweet pink flesh, and its relative lack of seeds compared to other varieties. In the 1880s horitculturists speculated whether it was an inbred cross of the Imperial Watermelon and the old Carolina Round (now extince). Odell’s white survived in the Dutch Fork region of South Carolina into the 21st century, preserved by the Metze family of Little Mountain SC under the name “Stoney Mountain Watermelon.” It was identified as being the famous Odell’s White by Dr. Jim Kibler of Whitmire, SC.
ISSUE 42, MELONS, Part 3: Odell's White Watermelon
ISSUE 42, MELONS, Part 3: Odell's White…
ISSUE 42, MELONS, Part 3: Odell's White Watermelon
Odell’s White Watermelon Though the botanical home of the watermelon is Africa, the varieties of melon sold as seed and at produce stands in the United States were shaped by American seedsmen of the 19th century. Only one commercial variety is known to have been bred by an African-American seedsman—the Odell’s White Watermelon, created by Harry, the foreman of pomologist Willism Summer’s Pomaria plantation in Pomaria, South Carolina in the 1840s. This huge (up to 60 lbs), round, light gray green skinned and pink fleshed melon was famed for its productivity, its delicately sweet pink flesh, and its relative lack of seeds compared to other varieties. In the 1880s horitculturists speculated whether it was an inbred cross of the Imperial Watermelon and the old Carolina Round (now extince). Odell’s white survived in the Dutch Fork region of South Carolina into the 21st century, preserved by the Metze family of Little Mountain SC under the name “Stoney Mountain Watermelon.” It was identified as being the famous Odell’s White by Dr. Jim Kibler of Whitmire, SC.