May 19, 2012
FEATURED PRODUCT: Watermelon Puree
Watermelon is carefully processed from fresh, washed fully ripened watermelons to provide the essential
nutrition and color, in a convenient, ready to use ingredient form for processed beverage and food
applications. Watermelon is a great natural fruit source for Lycopene and vitamins C and A and B6,
along with fiber and minerals like potassium and magnesium. Watermelon has been designated as one
of the top 10 healthy foods to eat.
Watermelons are grown around the world and are truly a global fruit. The high concentrations of Lycopenes,
an important antioxidant and anti cancer agent, make watermelon a very heart healthy fruit. Lycopene
has been linked to reduced anti inflammatory action, and is thought to contribute to reduced incidences
of cancers; including colon, stomach, lung, prostate, breast and pancreas, among others.
Watermelon consumption is also thought to increase the blood levels of free arginine and citrulline, which
help improve blood flow and cardiovascular function.
Encore Fruit Marketing can provide an excellent source of watermelon puree to help consumer products deliver one
of the 5 A Day fruit servings.
Watermelon puree is carefully processed from fresh, washed fully ripened watermelons to provide the essential
nutrition and red color, in a convenient, ready to use ingredient form. Watermelon puree is an excellent ingredient
to add a fruit serving with lycopene to your retail label for beverages, yogurts, nutrition bars and snacks
and other processed foods.
Contact Encore Fruit Marketing today for product samples and information on watermelon puree at www.encorefruit.com or
Click Here to use our convenient
Contact Form.
Of Additional Note:
Watermelons grow on vines. For this reason--and because they must be replanted annually--watermelons are considered by horticulturists to be vegetables. The plants require a long, warm growing season, and they thrive in slightly acid, sandy soil. Growers plant the seeds about 4 feet (1.2 meters) apart in rows spaced about 10 feet (3 meters) from one another. In colder climates, where the growing season is short, the seeds are often planted in a greenhouse first. They are transplanted into fields after the danger of frost has passed.
The vines grow long, trailing stems called runners. Some runners grow up to 40 feet (12.2 meters) long. They produce slender, coiling tendrils and yellow blossoms. The tendrils attach themselves to objects in the field and prevent the watermelons from rolling in high winds and thus becoming scarred. Fruit develops from pollinated flowers. It matures four to six weeks after pollination. As a watermelon ripens, the rind color becomes dull and the top of the fruit flattens slightly. A ripe watermelon makes a hollow thud when thumped.
The watermelon plant probably originated in Africa. Watermelons are known to have been grown in New England as early as 1629. Today, Turkey and China are the world's leading producers of watermelons. Major watermelon-producing states in the United States include Florida, Texas, and Georgia. Varieties of watermelon grown in the Western United States include Klondike and Peacock. Those grown in the East include Charleston Gray, Crimson Sweet, and Jubilee. Triple Sweet and Tri X 313 are two seedless varieties.
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