Wait, Watermelon Seed Butter Is A Thing?

Food & Wine just clued me in on a product that I never knew existed: watermelon seed butter. You know, I feel kind of like a dumbass for not realizing that this could be an actual item. Watermelons have seeds, and they're edible, so a nut-butter-style product makes sense to me. Why this feels like it's blown my mind, I'm not sure, but the world is a big interesting place and there's always something new to learn. And eat.

The watermelon seed butter product is from a company called 88 Acres. There are two options: one roasted with sugar, one without (both come with a steep $14.99 price tag, just a note). Food & Wine describes them both as tahini-like in appearance and texture. The unsweetened one also tastes almost like tahini, without the bitterness you sometimes get from sesame. Because it has a mild flavor, it's very versatile: you can layer it in avocado toast or use it in any other way you use nut butters in general, like in combination with chocolate. Sounds good to me.

Food & Wine does, however, highly recommend the sweetened version on toast or grilled bread, then hitting it with some sugar and some flame to get a brulée effect. I'm down. It sounds like a pretty good healthy snack too; throw in a banana and I'm in. Or if you're feeling sassy you can try using toasted pound cake instead, maybe add some ice cream.

It sounds versatile enough that I'm guessing you'd even be able to toss it in with some cold noodles for a fast healthy meal, or turn it into various sauces. I think it's also an ingredient I'd whip out of the pantry casually to show friends while saying, "Hey, look at this cool thing I found." (If I felt like shelling out $14.99.)