If you want to know a little bit about my roots, you should know I spent my childhood in a cozy, single-story red brick ranch house nestled in Sunman, Indiana. Sunman wasn’t exactly a bustling metropolis. We didn’t even have a single stoplight, but we had everything a small town needed. There was an IGA, the heart of our community serving as both a grocery store and gas station, a reliable service station to keep our cars running, and, of course, a liquor store. There might have been a few other establishments sprinkled around, but honestly, you could easily miss them if you blinked.
Our family vehicle was a classic, old, single cab, manual Ford F-150 pickup truck. It was truly one of a kind. I can’t swear if the air conditioning worked, but if it did, my dad was a firm believer in fresh air. We were a windows-down, wind-in-your-hair, singing-along-to-the-radio kind of family. And one song that was always on our summer playlist was “Watermelon Crawl” by Tracy Byrd. Every time I hear that tune, it’s like a rush of summer memories comes flooding back. For those unfamiliar, the lyrics paint a vivid picture: “If you’re ever down in Georgia ’round about July…If you ain’t in a hurry, then you oughta stop by…I can guarantee that you’re gonna have a ball…Learnin’ how to do the watermelon crawl.” And believe it or not, there’s actually a dance that goes with the Watermelon Crawl Song! Okay, I might have been known to bust out those moves once or twice… or maybe more, but who’s counting?
Growing up with my older brother Chris, or “Bungus” as we affectionately (and annoyingly, for him) called him, life was simple, demanding, yet ultimately fulfilling. Each spring, as reliably as clockwork, we would plant a garden. Most people would probably consider it a small field rather than a garden. We grew everything imaginable: tomatoes, onions, peppers, corn, beans, cabbage, broccoli, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, strawberries, and blackberries. Whew! I think I’ve listed it all. As we got a little older and more ambitious, we even decided to try our hand at watermelons. We were completely clueless about watermelon cultivation – when to plant, how to care for them, when they were ripe for picking – but that didn’t deter us. Through a lot of trial and error, we eventually figured it out and enjoyed the sweet reward.
For those who haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing a garden bursting with fresh fruits and vegetables, let me share a little watermelon wisdom. When selecting a watermelon, make sure it feels heavy for its size and look for a yellow spot on one side. This “yellow spot” is known as the field spot, marking where the watermelon rested on the ground and ripened in the sun. Generally, the rounder the watermelon, the sweeter it tends to be, while the more oblong-shaped melons can be more watery and less flavorful, at least in my experience. Regardless of shape, most of us would agree that watermelons are sweet, juicy, and have that slightly rindy taste when you get close to the whitish part of the flesh. Imagine if we could perfectly capture that authentic watermelon flavor, that true-to-fruit essence, for a wide range of food and beverage applications, moving beyond the artificial, candy-like watermelon flavors we often encounter, like jolly ranchers.
This is exactly what Megan Scholle, a talented flavorist at Givaudan, achieved in 2020. She developed a remarkable watermelon flavor leveraging insights from Givaudan’s innovative FreezeFrameⓇ technology. FreezeFrame is a unique analytical technique that essentially freezes flavor molecules at their peak ripeness. It captures those delicate aromatic compounds that are often lost through evaporation, oxidation, or degradation during traditional extraction processes. Essentially, FreezeFrame allows us to capture the very moment of peak freshness from a variety of fruits, vegetables, and herbs. Megan expertly applied this knowledge and technology to her watermelon creation. When I first experienced her watermelon flavor, it was an instant time machine. I was transported right back to Sunman, Indiana, riding in our old Ford F150 pickup truck, and singing along to Tracy Byrd’s “Watermelon Crawl song”.
If your brand is seeking to create a truly memorable and evocative experience for your consumers, perhaps even inspire a little spontaneous “watermelon dance,” you simply can’t go wrong with this flavor. Give your consumers a delightful surprise, a taste of summer nostalgia. Perhaps they share similar childhood memories, and just maybe, you’ll bring those cherished moments back to life for them with the perfect watermelon flavor.
