Nice Melons
March 1st, 2007
Japan has found a way to make square watermelons. Unlike other food “enhancements”, such as the creation of seedless watermelon (which requires colchine) or genetically modified homogeneous crops (which makes them more vulnerable to disease), this fad requires only a box and your patience. Due to its shape, the melons are actually easier to stack, store, and ship meaning it can be more efficient to deliver and use less fossil fuels. Now if it were only more affordable: it currently sells for about $82 and only in Japan.
Make Your Own!
See Also: Pyramidal Watermelons
March 1st, 2007 at 9:29 am
I suppose it depends on the specific system, but wouldn’t building boxes for the nation’s watermelon crop use more energy than the small amount saved by having prismatic fruit?
Also, the very concept of a square watermelon – even one made without genetic engineering – probably keeps those opposed to GM foods awake at night.
March 1st, 2007 at 12:19 pm
I actually would disagree. While I don’t know the specifics behind the boxing procedure, I think it’s actually not as bad as you might think. In an ideal world, the containers could easily be reusable. Judging by how green the skin of the watermelon is (chlorophyll content), the container would likely need to be transparent. So, a reusable glass box with a lid actually sounds quite reasonable. The container could clearly be made from recycled glass.
The transportation savings are simple to calculate. Let’s consider two situations. A square watermelon, 1 unit square (1ft x 1ft x 1ft, or 30cm x 30cm x 30cm, any size, but of a similar unit) and a spherical watermelon, 1 unit in diameter. (Assuming a normal watermelon to be spherical shouldn’t be too far of a stretch.) Now, let’s assume that watermelons are packed in the most efficient way possible. This is called “hexagonal close packing”, or from a different angle “cubic close packing”.
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/HexagonalClosePacking.html
As a result, the packing density for spheres is about only 74% as efficient as a completely filled in cube. Now, in order to calculate the shipping efficiency, we would need to consider the dimensions of the pallet, the truck and the shipping container…. but I think the point is that it’s not too far of a stretch to see some energy savings. Clearly, it takes a bit more work to achieve this in labor and complexity, but perhaps there are additional values such as pest mitigation when the fruit is enclosed in a box as well as the number of fruit you can fit on a shelf that should be taken into account in calculating cost. Lastly, there’s also the intangible dimension of delight and novelty that might come with a square watermelon.
As far as keeping people awake, while the form of a square watermelon might be a little unsettling at first, I think it actually quite inspirational given how simple, non-toxic, and environmentally responsible the implementation actually is. If anyone knows of where I can get one in the US, I’ll be the first one to try it!
March 1st, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Mike, you can’t convince me with all the numbers in the world: I’ll walk to work in the snow, I’ll buy carbon offsets, I’ll plant a tree, I’ll recycle every product I buy, but I’ll never accept a square watermelon on the 4th of July. It’s just not…right. Call me old-fashioned.
Incidentally, I think this watermelon would be perfect for filling with vodka. Make me an old-fashioned.
March 2nd, 2007 at 8:57 am
Jeff, your comments are disheartening. Personally, I am hoping this is the beginnings of a Cubism Renaissance….
Now the real question is- if they made a watermelon in the shape of an Absolut bottle, would you buy it?
March 4th, 2007 at 1:58 am
I would!
... in fact, there’s a product already out there on the market but its not quite there yet.
http://www.bevmo.com/productlist.asp?Ntt=in+bottle&Ntk=All&D=in+bottle&Nty=1
In this case a pear branch with blossom was put inside a bottle was it was still on the tree and the pear grew inside the bottle! ... I don’t see why we couldn’t grow a watermelon inside an Absolut bottle!
Hmmmm, I might just try!
March 6th, 2007 at 6:19 am
Dave: you mean like a time cube renaissance??
ahhh, nothing quite like politically charged and certifiably insane melons…. maybe square melons are evil yet!
May 1st, 2008 at 9:21 pm
$82? That’s retarded. But I would SO buy a square watermelon if it cost the same.