Varieties of seedless watermelon, grapes increasing

By KIM BACA
Associated Press Writer

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) Walk down the produce aisle in any grocery store and you'll see a vast selection of watermelons and red, green and black grapes all without seeds.

Twenty-five years ago, not many varieties of those fruits were readily available and few people were willing to try them. Today, both fruits are flying off the shelves as researchers develop better-tasting grapes and watermelons without seeds and consumers look for convenience.

``A lot of people find seeds offensive, especially older people,'' said Keith Mayberry, a farm adviser for the University of California Cooperative Extension program who helped develop one of the first seedless watermelons in Southern California's Imperial Valley. ``They aren't good at getting the seeds out and they don't get through their digestive system.''

The first seedless watermelons were available in supermarkets after someone accidentally placed a chemical in seeded melons more than 10 years ago, Mayberry said.

Since then, researchers have developed six seedless varieties, in addition to more than 1,000 types of seeded watermelons in the world, from the jubilee, the traditional 20-pound to 45-pound oblong melon, to the desert king and tendergold, the yellow-fleshed round melons with or without black seeds.

This summer another California company has debuted a new seedless variety, the PureHeart, which is commonly known as the personal-sized or pocket watermelon.

``It's just an alternate melon,'' said PureHeart grower Dan Van Groningen, who started planting the mini-melon on his farm near Manteca last year. ``You're reaching a clientele that wouldn't even take a watermelon. If there's only two in the family, maybe two are retired, what are they going to do with the rest?''

He credits the rising sales of seedless watermelons to their sweetness, perfected by researchers. ``The seedless are very close to a seeded in taste,'' Van Groningen said.

Seedless are the most popular on the West Coast about 90 percent of the watermelons sold here are without seeds, according to the California-Arizona Watermelon Association, which represents 100 growers, shippers and seed companies. Both states are among the top five watermelon producers in the nation, including Florida, Texas and Georgia.

The seedless varieties are planted, ironically, in between seeded melons to make sure bees pollenate both plants to make them grow.

While watermelons recently have been altered to produce no seeds, grapes have had a seedless variety for centuries. The seedless Thompson, which is widely grown in Central California, has been available since Biblical times, said Kathleen Nave, California Table Grape Commission president.

In the past 25 years, the grape industry has seen an explosion of seedless varieties. Three-quarters of the dozens of varieties of grapes grown today are without seeds.

``We know when we do consumer preference studies, consumers simply prefer seedless,'' Nave said. ``I think some people don't know what to do with the seeds they don't know whether to eat them or spit them out.''

People can devour them with the grape. ``There's been a lot of research that they are good for you,'' Nave said. ``They have phytonutrients, those are compounds that may prevent disease.''

Despite the growth of seedless watermelons and grapes, seeded varieties haven't completely been phased out. Industry officials say many of these varieties are shipped overseas where people aren't as finicky.

As convenience becomes more of an American mind-set, researchers in other industries are developing other seedless fruits and vegetables or fruits that are easier to eat. The freestone peach variety was created more than 25 years ago so that the meat doesn't cling to the seed. Mandarins are grown in isolation to keep bees from pollenating them with other citrus DNA, or they will fatten with seeds.

But will there ever be a seedless cherry or peach?

Jesus Valencia, a UC Cooperative Extension farm adviser in Fresno County, doesn't think so in the immediate future. Researchers are more concerned with taste, look and nutrition. But he hasn't completely ruled it out.

``If the market wants something, people will try,'' he said.

=

On the Net:

California-Arizona Watermelon Association: http://www.h20melon.com

National Watermelon Promotion Board: http://www.watermelon.org

California Table Grape Commission: http://www.tablegrape.com

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)