Kolkata: Red or yellow? You have a choice if it’s watermelon

KOLKATA: Yellow-fleshed watermelon that has hit city markets during this summer has found an increasing popularity.
During this Ramzan period, popular fruit sellers surrounding Nakhoda mosque, who sell iftar fruits platter for the last few decades, are witnessing a steady sale of the yellow variety rather than the traditional red watermelon.

“Initially, fruit sellers were sceptical about yellow watermelon but since the start of Ramzan, there is an increasing popularity,” said Chand Khan of Colootola Street who usually sells about 80kgs of yellow-fleshed watermelons every day.
In recent times, several trucks full of yellow-fleshed watermelons have entered the Mechua fruit market from Karnataka. The selling price in the Nakhoda area is around Rs 70 per kg while in the city market it costs around Rs 80-Rs 120 per kg.
“We witness regular demand of the new variety but supply is not steady yet,” said Puspendu Poria (40), owner of an exotic fruit shop at Jadubabu’s Bazar in Bhowanipur.
In Bengal, about 100 farmers of Gopiballabpur area in Jhargram have cultivated this yellow-fleshed watermelon for the first time on a large scale on the banks of Subarnarekha. These watermelons have also hit Kolkata markets. “This variety of watermelon is high yielding and we get better market rate than the conventional red one,” said young farmer Avishek Ghosh (24) of Kharika Sol village in Gopiballavpur.
Another variety of hybrid watermelon is also cultivated in Jhargram on an experimental basis. It has a complete yellow peel with conventional red flesh. But these are not so popular yet in the city. Farmers bought these high-yielding seeds from an Indian company, marketing different hybrid variants of watermelon seeds.
“It is found that yellow watermelon was cultivated first and grown in Africa for almost 5,000 years,” said Happy Das, professor of botany in Kharagpur College, who also passionately cultivated yellow-fleshed watermelon this year in his kitchen garden.