The recovery of the Red-N-Sweet watermelon will take center stage at Slow Food North Louisiana’s event in Minden on Saturday, Nov. 15
by Chris Jay
stuffedandbusted at gmail dot com
The creation of this post was sponsored by Slow Food North Louisiana.
Joshua “Fitz” Fitzwater, a Richmond, VA-based food writer, photographer, and independent researcher, has learned more about regional watermelon varieties in the South than anyone else you’re likely to meet. Along with his partner, food historian Deb Freeman, Fitzwater has spent the last few years traveling the South to track down acclaimed, and often all-but-extinct, breeds of watermelon. He’s got good news for watermelon fanatics in North Louisiana: The Red-N-Sweet watermelon, released by LSU AgCenter’s now-closed Calhoun Research Station in 1987, may actually be the sweetest in the South.
“We’ve tracked down between 40 and 50 varieties of rare heirloom watermelons,” Fitzwater said. “A lot of people think they grow the best watermelon, but you never really know until you try it. In terms of sweet taste, the classic red-fleshed watermelon that people think of, there really is not a better one than the Red-N-Sweet.”
The story of the Red-N-Sweet watermelon, and how it was recovered thanks to the seed-saving efforts of the North Louisiana Seed Preservation Program, will be shared during “Hand Them Down to Lift Them Up: An Heirloom Food Forum” (Facebook event link) at Cultural Crossroads of Minden on Saturday, Nov. 15. The ticketed event is a co-presentation of Slow Food North Louisiana and Cultural Crossroads of Minden. Tickets and more info are available here. Ticket sales close on Friday, Nov. 14.
Kerry Heafner, LSU AgCenter’s Associate Extension Agent for Ouachita Parish, is one of the main characters in this remarkable detective story. Before he became directly involved in the history of the Red-N-Sweet watermelon, he frequently received inquiries about it from older locals in the Calhoun, Louisiana area, where LSU AgCenter’s Calhoun Research Station operated for many years.
“I had a lot of people come into the office asking where they could find the old Calhoun sweet watermelon,” Heafner said. “And when they would start talking about this watermelon, I mean, their mouths would start watering.”
The story that unfolds from that moment is a fun ride. Heafner’s detective work unearths a mystery cache of seeds, which turn out to yield the legendary Red-N-Sweet. His success growing the watermelon brings it to the attention of Fitzwater and Freeman, who travel to Louisiana to analyze the melon and find that it is, scientifically speaking, the sweetest out there. All of the parties involved will be on-hand to share the story in person at Saturday’s event.
And, yes, Fitzwater will have Red-N-Sweet seeds available at the event. He’ll also have seeds for a few other noteworthy and ultra-rare watermelons, including the Ravenscroft from South Carolina and possibly the Florida Favorite, a watermelon that, Fitzwater said, “is not commercially available anywhere.”
Fitzwater believes that he and Freeman have, to date, distributed Red-N-Sweet seeds to more than a thousand individuals around the country. In Virginia the Red-N-Sweet watermelon has attracted the attention of celebrity chefs and food media, including features in publications like Richmond Magazine and Virginia Living. The enormously influential magazine Garden & Gun even wrote about the recovery of the Red-N-Sweet. Despite all of this excitement, the watermelon and its story have remained relatively unknown in North Louisiana, where it was created.
“I hope that we can get these things back out there, and that they can find a place in 21st Century culinary arts,” Heafner said. “Because once that genetic diversity is gone, there’s no getting it back.”
Tickets to “Hand Them Down to Lift Them Up: An Heirloom Food Forum” are $40 for general admission or $35 for current Slow Food members. Tickets must be purchased in advance, and ticket sales will end on Friday, Nov. 14. Admission includes lunch by 2024 James Beard Award Semifinalist Chef Hardette Harris of Us Up North Kitchen. The event will run from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. and will include a screening and discussion of the Emmy-winning documentary Finding Edna Lewis with the film’s producer and host, Deb Freeman, in attendance. Read the Stuffed & Busted post on that screening here.
Photos for this post were kindly provided by “Fitz” Fitzwater/Southern Grit Magazine.
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