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July 27, 2008

Good things in small packages

Jersey tomatoes 7-26 Tomatoes are in, corn is in...time to lose all control at the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket.








What gets me most excited are things you simply can't find at the supermarket or the Korean greengrocer, like wee little fruits and veggies.

Little eggplant 7-26 Tiny purple streaky eggplants.

Or gumball-sized plums.

Little plums 7-26 








 Little squash 7-26Finger-sized squash...



...and fingerling potatoes.Little potatoes 7-26


    





WATERMELON RANT AHEAD

Watermelon 1 7-26 What the hell has happened to watermelons? At the supermarket, they're now all "seedless," and often as not they're either pale, nearly rotten, or both, and as flavorful as a cellulose sponge. Thank you, hybridizers, you've done it again! Seedless watermelon is an affront—dooming our next generation to utter ignorance of the joys of a seed-spitting contest—and we are being punished with pallid, squishy-fleshed monstrosities. The pink flesh/green rind/black seed pattern is a summer icon, reproduced endlessly on table linens and decorative items; will today's children ask, "Mommy, what are the black dots for?"

Today, one vendor had an old-fashioned, red-blooded, seed-bristling watermelon hacked into samples for Greenmarket buyers, who mobbed the knife-wielding fellow like starving prisoners for one of the ruby chunks. I usually hesitate to buy a whole uncut melon, but we took a chance—one hell of a chance, at $8 a melon—and bought one. Watermelon 2 7-26It's a beauty, the taste of summer itself, with a firm, crisp texture and deep, evenly crimson interior.  And a ton of gorgeous little shiny black seeds.

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