Your Granddad's Sports Drink

When I think of summers past I think of fireflies in bottles with holes punched in the lid so they can breath, running through the sprinkler and watermelon.  Now that I’m an adult, I’m charmed to see fireflies.  They are becoming rare with all the lawn care.  Kid are now taken to special camps to learn water polo or synchronized swimming to protect lawns and get them out of the house.  Things change.

But I haven’t lost interest in watermelon, especially with the new sweet seedless varieties.  I do miss the watermelon seed spitting contests, but my wife would never let me do that in my backyard with company.

I picked up a special knife for cutting watermelon.  It’s a very aggressive blade and cuts a melon open with ease.  I especially like the little watermelon seeds printed on the knife blade.  You can find these at many places for less than 10 bucks.

Ice cold watermelon and a knife.  What more could I want on a hot July afternoon?

 

The blade has a semi-chisel cut.  The knife is hollow ground on both sides but the cutting edge is a chisel grind.  This does several nice things for you.  The shoulder from the hollow grind forces the thick watermelon rind away from the cutting edge, so pushing on the knife just cleaves the melon and protects the edge.  Sawing with the knife makes watermelon juice, but it sure reduces a melon to slices quickly.

I make the first cut.  The knife works like a charm.

However the chisel grind on the left side of the blade tends to push the knife to the right when you’re cutting.  It might not be the optimal blade for watermelon decorative carving.  Next time I sharpen it, I’ll start a back grind on the right side to balance the cutting edge a little better.

The photo is from the second melon we had.  The first went to club activity we ran on the first really hot day of July.  After 6 hours in the sun we were cooked.  I’m here to tell you ice cold watermelon beats any sports drink for reviving your spirits and rehydrating!

Go watermelon!