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Shrinking The Watermelon
Makarand writes "Scientists who have already eliminated seeds and sweetened the watermelon
have now
miniaturized this fruit to the size of a cantaloupe. Only the outer speckled shell looks give a clue to what fruit it really is. Syngenta, a Swiss agribusinesses' North American subsidiary has brought this minimelon to the market in 30 states to satisfy
customers who favor something that is easier to store and less troublesome to prepare for consumption. No biotech or genetic engineering at work here - the company merely crossed different
breeds of watermelons to produce the minimelon."
Selective breeding sounds a whole lot like genetic engineering to me.
In any case, I bet these will be popular in Japan, if the stories I have heard about watermelons and Japan are true.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
Genetic Engineering: Creating a new organism by directly altering its genetic code (most notably by 'splicing' code from other organisms into it). Understandably, this idea freaks people out. I must say it doesn't make me particularily comfortable. Selective Breeding: Overriding the subtle hand of Natural Selection in species' evolution with human choice; ie. hand-picking which organism will breed with which. It's the origin of just about every 'domesticated' species, such as wheat, dairy cattle, and (er, I think) brewer's yeast. Selective Breeding is where Chihuahuas, Pekes and Devon Rexes come from, so it's not entirely in my good books either.
What's the big deal?? They have those small watermelons in Japan for many years (some watermelons are as small as a softball). I know this, as I worked in watermelon shipping warehouse in Japan for a while.
genetic engineering has a connotation of direct human alteration of a gene, as opposed to just picking which plants get to breed. Semantics I know, but most people make the distinction.
I think that reducing the size of the watermelon would dramatically increase the flavour, considering it's the same amount of fruit and juice, but compressed into a smaller space. You can achieve the same effect by "super-ripening", a process whereby a melon is over-ripened. Melons which have been super-ripened have superior flavour - though this is something I read somewhere, I have yet to see such a melon should it exist.
Can anyone confirm this??
and less troublesome to prepare for consumption
I never knew it was that hard to cut a watermelon into quarters and put it on a plate.
You can't patent DNA--its GPL'd. ;)
Seriously, you can patent the _sequence_ of DNA--which is proprietary code, and subject to all IP laws and such... which is what they've done here. Or at least, I hope they did... if not, there going to be really pissed when someone sequences their Minimelon DNA and copyright's it.
I'm still waiting for the GPL'd Minimelon, which will run better and faster than all Minimelons previous.
Softball sized? much too large.
We had spherical watermelon seeds ordered from catalog in (circa) 1975. We were on the borderline of their recommended growing climate in Maine, so they grew to merely baseball to softball size by autumn. Tasty, but small -- single-serving size. Many of them fit in my windbreaker pocket, for eating after school while scoring a soccer game. Much amazment from folks who'd never seen a tiny, round watermelon.
Bill
wdr or n1vux as appropriate