Posted by jba/fl on 7/4/12 5:56am
Msg #425538

Happy 4th everyone - Be safe! n/m

Reply by NJDiva on 7/4/12 6:00am
Msg #425539

Happy 4th everyone - Be safe!

Thanks Jules! Backatchya! Looks like it's going to be a blah, rainy day up here in Northern NJ!

Reply by Linda Juenger on 7/4/12 7:46am
Msg #425542

Re: Happy 4th everyone - Be safe!

Same to everyone also. It's so hot and dry here that every town has cancelled its fireworks and picnics.

Reply by 101livescan on 7/4/12 8:45am
Msg #425543

Re: Happy 4th everyone - Be safe!

Glad to have a day in the middle of the week to reflect and stay off the roads. Fog is so dense, I can't see past my fence line, 30 feet out. Think I'll do a little yard work and clean out closets this morning, then celebrate with neighbors at a community cookout. No fireworks here. Too dry, lots of brush to set the central coast of CA ablaze. I have a helipad near to my place, thank God. I'd have a way out.

Be safe, have a great celebration no matter where you are! inspite of the weather!

Got watermelon!

Reply by BrendaTx on 7/4/12 9:23am
Msg #425544

Watermelon is my favorite fruit!

I went through sandy Hempstead, Texas where the melons are very sweet last week. My family always yearned for Hempstead watermelons in the summer.


To commemorate the good ol' days, I bought two yellow meats at Garza's roadside produce stand.

They are a beauty to behold. With all of the new seedless versions yellow meats seldom show up in stores. I chomped through the nutty tasting seed and yellow sweetness like it was 1965.

Reply by 101livescan on 7/4/12 11:28am
Msg #425548

Re: Watermelon is my favorite fruit!

Watermelons love the heat. I planted a couple in my garden this year and they are taking off like wild. SEEDLESS! What a marvelous invention. I remember as a child my mother saying "don't swallow the seeds" or you'll have a watermelon growing in your stomach...LOVE, LOVE, LOVE watermelon. Who doesn't, especially on the Fourth of July.

Reply by janCA on 7/4/12 1:15pm
Msg #425554

Re: Watermelon is my favorite fruit!

My husband hates watermelon, and so did my dad. Could never understand it. Back in Kansas we used to put, of all things, salt on an ever so sweet melon. I have no clue why.

It's warm and sunny here in Central California with a breeze right now. I've already taken a dip in the pool. Sitting out on my patio basking in this beautiful weather, the heat will be here soon. High of 96 today, but certainly enjoyable right now.

Everyone have a safe and sane fourth.

Reply by MistarellaFL on 7/4/12 3:49pm
Msg #425562

Kansas & salted fruits

I'd forgotten that!
I remember some people putting salt on watermelons, apples and raw potato.
I've never known anyone else who'd do that outside of a few family members from Kansas, lol.

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 7/4/12 3:56pm
Msg #425563

Re: Kansas & salted fruits

Salt on watermelon is the only way to eat it. The salt brings out the flavour

Reply by linda/ca on 7/4/12 11:56pm
Msg #425584

Re: Kansas & salted fruits

Yelp! Salt enhances the flavor and gives it a sweeter taste!

Reply by JanetK_CA on 7/5/12 3:09pm
Msg #425656

Re: Kansas & salted fruits

According to all my favorite chefs on the Food Channel, salt enhances the flavor of anything you put it on. I think the key is how much you use - and probably what kind of salt you use. A while back, I switched to using only kosher salt for cooking (not for baking). I believe it's not as "salty" as regular table salt, so it's easier to control how much you use. I can get by with much less (which is great, because I try to keep my sodium intake down). I think the flaked form helps it dissolve quicker, too.

I'm sure there are far better explanations about the differences somewhere on the internet, but all I know is that I like kosher salt much, much better. (I'm not one of those foodies who has gotten into all the different kinds of salt available out there lately, but it might be interesting to experiment one of these days... )

Reply by jba/fl on 7/4/12 3:59pm
Msg #425564

Not just Kansas - the mid=West in many areas.

Salt just makes it salty. JMO

Reply by Deborah Breedlove on 7/5/12 2:21pm
Msg #425650

Re: Kansas & salted fruits

I grew up in Texas, and we always put salt on our watermelon and cantaloupe. It makes it test better. It brings the flavor out more, and the sweet and salty combo is great.

I've lived here in Kansas for the last 40 years, and we still eat it the same way. However, I've never salted an apple, and we don't eat raw potatoes.

Reply by HisHughness on 7/4/12 4:07pm
Msg #425565

Salting watermelon is a common practice in Texas

I've never seen other melons salted, though.

I have seen effete types from north of the Red River who think a fork is the proper way to eat wtermelon. If God had intended watermelon to be eaten with a fork, He would have put tines on the end of our fingers. The proper way to eat watermelon is to slice it into 2-inch thick wedges, and use the tools God <did> give us for eating. If you are given a larger slice, and have no butcher knife to shave it down to managable size, it is acceptable to use a table knife to slice off hunks the size of your hand, spear them, and nibble.

Forks, never. At a 4th of July picnic, forks are for scratching between your shoulder blades.

Reply by Susan Fischer on 7/4/12 5:21pm
Msg #425567

Salt on cantaloup is delish, esp with cottage cheese, pep-

per, and sprinkled with chopped cukes.

So cool and refreshing!

Bon appetit!

Reply by LKT/CA on 7/4/12 6:03pm
Msg #425569

Re: Salt on cantaloup is delish, esp with cottage cheese, pep-

Salt and pepper on nectarines and peaches is deelish too!

Reply by Susan Fischer on 7/4/12 6:05pm
Msg #425570

There's just something about the savory part of S&P

that just tickles the tummy.

Yummy.

Reply by BrendaTx on 7/4/12 7:22pm
Msg #425577

Salt on any fruit except grapes and berries.

I love salt on melons...cantaloupes, too. Pears, peaches, nectarines, apples, 'maters, etc.

My mom is a salt-aholic and it never affects her badly. However, her darling daughter does not enjoy posing as a water balloon...I've learned to reserve salting for watermelons and tomatoes.

Shoot, as a child during 4th of July, Memorial Day, and Labor Day celebrations I used to hide and eat so much of the ice cream crank rock salt that I'd make myself sick. Just read the other day that one can fatally poison a child with salt...no wonder I felt it necessary to hide...I suspect I had been threatened by my youthful ER nurse grandma.

Reply by Jessica Ward on 7/4/12 9:20pm
Msg #425582

My Midwestern relatives all salt cantaloupe and honeydew.

I pretty much like my fruit the way it came.

Reply by jba/fl on 7/4/12 10:24pm
Msg #425583

Me too! n/m

Reply by Teresa/FL on 7/4/12 6:25pm
Msg #425572

My great uncle had a watermelon farm in East Tennessee

We visited every summer and would feast on all the different varieties. I remember some people liked to use salt, but I like mine plain.

Reply by HisHughness on 7/4/12 6:30pm
Msg #425573

Re: My great uncle had a watermelon farm in East Tennessee

Did you have much trouble picking them off the tree as a child?

Reply by linda/ca on 7/5/12 12:02am
Msg #425585

Re: Watermelon is my favorite fruit!

I forgot all about yellow meat watermelon, Brenda. I only recall seeing those in OKC many years ago . Guess it's an Okie/Tex thing!