A Taste of Wellness for Savoury and Snacks
Givaudan
A sweet, seedless watermelon that fits neatly and tidily into the fridge has been created by US researchers. The 12-centimetre mini-melons, created by normal breeding, have already gone on sale in some parts of the US, reports the New Scientist .
The mini-melons have a thinner rind and a uniform flavour throughout the fruit. In contrast, traditional watermelons tend to concentrate the flavour in a 'sweet spot' in the middle, said John Sorenson of Syngenta Seeds, the company that has developed the variety at its labs in Boise, Idaho, over the past four years.
The scientists crossed wild dwarf varieties of melon, found in undisclosed locations outside the US, with established commercial strains. They then bred the resulting mini-melons to have thin skins. Finally, they created a seedless version by generating two 'master' hybrid lines, one with the usual two sets of chromosomes and one with four sets. When the two are crossed with one another, they produce seedless offspring with three sets of chromosomes.
"The seed supply is very limited but it's building up, and we anticipate the melons being available in Europe in the next two years or so," said Sorenson.