Watermelon Summer Salad

watermelon salad

Now summer is officially here I feel a celebration is in order. A salad? Oh yes, but not just any old salad. Watermelon salad? Yes please.

As you might expect given its name, watermelon is excellent for hydration in the summer months. But it’s more than just water (92% don’t you know?) and sugar. A nutrient-dense food full of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, it is also has anti-inflammatory properties and is great for digestion.

For a full list of the health benefits, read this article here.

How to choose a watermelon

  • Size matters – Watermelons are gendered. ‘Boys’ are bigger and oval while ‘girls’ are smaller and rounder. Boys have less flavour, girls are sweeter. As a general rule, the larger the melon, the more watery it will taste and the smaller it is, the sweeter it will be (unless of course it isn’t ripe!).
  • Colour – If possible, buy a watermelon whose insides you can see. In supermarkets this isn’t often possible, but lots of greengrocers halve or quarter their watermelons for display so you can see what you’re buying. As a general rule, the brighter and darker the inside of the melon, the better it will taste. Avoid ones with cracks or white lines.
  • Check its tail – The tail (where it was attached to the vine) of a watermelon indicates its ripeness. A green tail indicates it was cut too soon, while a withered one means it will have been allowed to ripen on the vine.
  • Webbing – Webbing makes the skin of the watermelon look as it has been disfigured or damaged, but is actually an indicator of how any times bees have touched the original flower. The less “perfect” the skin looks – ie, the more webbing there is and the more disfigured it looks – the more pollination the watermelon will have had and the sweeter it will be.

Now you know how to choose your watermelon, aside from just serving it up as it is (which is perfectly acceptable – even desirable – in the Wannabe household), here’s a delicious recipe suggestion for a summer salad.

On a more prosaic level this salad will provide you with sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium, as well replenishing electrolytes lost through sweat.

More excitingly it combines sweet and juicy watermelon (assuming you’ve chosen well) with salty feta cheese and mint that will make your taste buds zing. So you see, summer on a plate.

Watermelon Summer Salad

Ingredients

Watermelon;

Cucumber;

Pomegranate seeds – to scatter;

Feta cheese – to crumble;

Mint.

Method

Chop the watermelon and cucumber into bitesize cubes;

Toss together;

Sprinkle feta, mint and pomegranate seeds on top.

Dressing

Dress this salad with your favourite dressing or perhaps with a little oil and lime juice, salt and pepper. Or maybe use any reserved pomegranate or watermelon juice. Feel free to get creative!

Do you have a favourite summer salad recipe you’d like to share? I’d love to hear from you in the comments section below.

Signed by: Monika.

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Writer, blogger, mother, wife, wannabe yogi.
Good intentions, zero willpower.

Signed by: Monika Maurer

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