Elevate Summer Fruit Salads With The Most Vibrant Variety Of Watermelon

An ex-boyfriend's aunt introduced me to yellow watermelon eight years ago and I've never forgotten it. Even though I only enjoyed it twice in my life, it left enough of an impression that, years later, I still scour the produce section of every grocery store I walk into each summer, to no avail. I sing yellow watermelon's praises any time the subject of watermelon comes up. And why shouldn't I? It's delicious, bold, flavorful, beautiful, and uniquely sweet. The flavor difference between pink and yellow watermelons is key: yellow watermelon tastes sweeter — like red watermelon with a hint of honey and fresh apricot. Yellow watermelon is perfect on its own, but it can also take your fruit salad to the next level.

For fruit salad, sunny yellow watermelon would lend a beautiful contrast to the blues and purples of blueberries and blackberries. If you want to make a summery rainbow fruit salad instead, add strawberries or raspberries, cantaloupe or apricots, and green grapes or kiwi, as well as dark berries. No matter what other fruit you decide to add, yellow watermelon makes a statement (Grab that melon baller for vintage-style summertime salads). Just make sure you remove the seeds because they're on the larger side.

So, what is yellow watermelon, anyway? Turns out, this is the original watermelon. A descendant of Kordofan melons, yellow watermelon first started growing in Africa nearly 5,000 years ago. They didn't evolve into the red variety until the fall of the Roman Empire, when they developed lycopene, an antioxidant found in grapefruit, tomatoes, and red watermelon that gives them their color. Despite the lack of this antioxidant, yellow watermelon is a good source of vitamins A and C, potassium, and beta-carotene. You can swap out yellow and red watermelon interchangeably, but if it's for a drink, watch the amount of sugar you add because you'll probably need a little less with the yellow variety.

Even though its rind is similar to red watermelon, yellow varieties tend to be smaller and rounder. You can pick out the best watermelon every time using the same tricks you would for red watermelon: look for a heavy one with a yellow spot on the bottom, that sounds hollow when you tap it. You're more likely to find yellow watermelon at a farmer's market from May through September, rather than at a grocery store (Believe me, I've been trying — and failing — for years). It might take some hunting, but once you've tasted yellow watermelon, summer won't feel complete without it.