“When one has tasted watermelon he knows what the angels eat.”

Melons are an Indiana summertime staple. Take a jaunt south on US 41 and you’ll quickly find yourself in melon country. According to the Illiana Watermelon Association, over 70% of the melons their members produce are grown in nearby Knox County. In fact, most of those are grown with 15 miles east or west of US 41 along a 50-mile long watermelon way.

Watermelons come in seedless and the standard seeded varieties. When the seedless ones were first introduced, their flavor wasn’t all that great. But in recent years that has been improved, and they’re actually worth eating now. Muskmelons are often called cantaloupes, but while all cantaloupes are muskmelons, techinically not all muskmelons are cantaloupes. (And none of them are “mushmelons”, so if that’s in your head, get it out of there right now.)

But with so many melons so close to home it would be a shame not to enjoy those delicious buggers. And unlike other summertime treats such as ice cream, melons won’t add to your waistline. Plus, they’re chock full of all kinds of healthy things.

Watermelon contains a higher concentration of the carotenoid Lycopene than any other type of produce. Lycopene has been found to provide protection from several types of cancers. Watermelon also contains significant amounts of Vitamins A, B and C.

Muskmelon is an excellent source of Vitamin A, providing 120% of your recommended daily requirement in a one cup serving, along with 108% of your Vitamin B requirement. They’re also a good source of potassium.

Melons are native to Africa, and there were originally two types: watermelon, which was sweet, and colocynth, which was bitter. The colocynth was used for some traditional medicines, but was otherwise inedible. Ancient wall paintings portray watermelons being cultivated and eaten in Egypt in 2000 BC and earlier.

The watermelon’s high water concentration made it a handy source of potable liquid, making them a common thing to take along on journeys. Because of this, they quickly spread around the region, ending up as far east as India and China. Oddly, the Greeks and Romans don’t appear to have been familiar with the fruit until much later. It became popular in Europe only after the Moorish invasion of Spain and the fall of the Roman Empire.

The watermelon then arrived in America by means of slaves from Africa. It quickly gained popularity among the European settlers and Native Americans alike. Growers in the New World also began improving the melons for flavor and size. Modern melon names like Sugar Baby, Ambrosia, and Sweet Ruby attest to the delectably sweet nature of today’s fruits. Hybridization has also brought us seedless varieties and even variations in flesh color.

And while a big old slice of melon is good, these days melons are eaten alone or as part of a salad, blended into a gelatin or beverage, chopped into a chutney, fermented into wine, and a whole host of other preparations that Mark Twain would not have even imagined.