What Is Yellow Watermelon? Natural Or Man-Made GMO?
What is the yellow watermelon? Is it natural or a man-made GMO? Find out everything about this mysterious watermelon species below.
Yellow watermelon is far from being as popular as the common watermelon with a red or pink core, but it does exist and has been around for more time than you might think.
Watermelons are vine plants of the Cucurbitaceae family and produce large, edible fruits with the same name. These plants are cultivated worldwide in regions with tropical to temperate climates.
There are more than 1000 varieties of watermelons and although many of them have red to pink flesh when ripe, there are also some not-so-common varieties that have yellow, orange, or white pulp.
Further in this article, we will talk about the yellow watermelon.
Although the popularity of yellow watermelons has increased a lot in recent years and have become more widely cultivated and available for purchase, this variety is still quite infrequent in many countries.
The cultivation of the yellow watermelons can also be a good business opportunity in many areas because the demand for them has also increased with their popularity, and not many farmers are growing them yet.
They do not have any special requirements for growing and can thrive in the same conditions as the common watermelons.
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Yellow watermelon origin
Yellow watermelon is far from being a new variety. According to several sources, the yellow watermelons originate from Africa and have been cultivated for more than 5000 years.
It is not clear how this yellow variety emerged. Some think that this watermelon with yellow core resulted from years of crossbreeding between several species, while others even claim that the yellow watermelon was, in fact, cultivated before the varieties with red or pink pulp.
Yellow watermelon varieties
Just as there are multiple cultivars of red watermelon, so there are the varieties of yellow watermelon.
The differences between these varieties may include fruit size or shape, rind color, a longer or shorter ripening period, a higher or lower sugar content, and some hybrids are seedless or contain a very low number of seeds.
Several of the most popular varieties include:
1. Yellow Buttercup
The yellow buttercup is one of the most appreciated cultivars of yellow watermelons. It produces seedless, rounded, very sweet fleshy fruits that have a bright yellow core.
2. Yellow Crimson
Yellow crimson produces smaller fruits in size but has a faster riping period than other varieties. It resembles the well-known red watermelon in look and taste but has a slightly higher content of sugar and yellow flesh.
3. Desert king
Desert King is one of the most drought-resistant varieties of watermelons. It has a light green rind and sweet, yellow flesh.
Other common varieties are yellow doll, cream of Saskatchewan, gold in gold, red in gold, and yellow flesh black diamond.
What does yellow watermelon look like?
Most varieties of yellow watermelons have the classic look of watermelons on the exterior, and cannot be distinguished by the pattern on the rind, color, or shape of the fruit.
Therefore, if having two fruits side by side, it would be almost impossible to tell which one is the common watermelon and which one is the watermelon with yellow flesh without slicing them.
The flesh color of ripe fruits is usually a bright yellow or golden yellow, but this may vary from one cultivar to another. The pulp of overripe fruits may gain a slightly orange shade.
The yellow watermelon’s core contains many seeds that turn dark when the fruit is ripe. However, there are also hybrid species that are seedless or have very few seeds.
What does yellow watermelon taste like?
The taste of yellow watermelons is very similar to that of red or pink species.
However, most yellow watermelon varieties are usually a bit sweeter due to the higher levels of sugar, but this may also vary from one cultivar to another. Not all of them are as sweet.
Its taste may also vary depending on how ripe the fruit is and its water content.
Are yellow watermelons genetically modified (GMO)?
Because the yellow watermelons are not as common as the red or pink varieties, many avoid buying them because of the suspicion that these species may have been created by genetically modifications in a lab (also known as GMOs).
Even if it is not known precisely how this species of yellow watermelon occurred, because there is evidence that it emerged approximately 4000 to 5000 years ago, it is certainly not the result of genetic modifications and was not created in a lab. Consequently, the yellow watermelon is not a GMO.
Yellow watermelon vs. red watermelon
In terms of its nutritional value, the yellow watermelon has several additional benefits over the red or pink varieties but also lacks some.
According to livestrong.com, yellow watermelons are a good source of beta carotene, while red watermelons are good sources of lycopene. Both are antioxidants important for the body.
The yellow variety may also contain higher values of vitamin C and natural sugar levels than the red watermelons.
Final Word
Although not as popular as the red or pink species, the yellow watermelons are real and have been cultivated for thousands of years.
They are not genetically modified organisms (GMOs) as many people are tempted to believe.
Just as there are multiple cultivars of red watermelons, there are also more varieties of these yellow watermelons, including seedles hybrids.
They may look similar at the exterior to the typical watermelons, but their core has a bright yellow flesh.
As far as their taste, most varieties have higher level of sugar content which make them sweeter than the watermelons we are all used to.