Ooltewah festival celebrates melons of all sizes and shapes

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The kiwani melon may look evil — and its thorns should be clipped off before you start working with it — but its flesh is like green Jell-O with a tropical taste and sour bite.

The kiwani looks like Satan's own breakfast - scarlet and orange covered with spikes armored with thorns.

"It looks quite menacing," chuckles Ooltewah Farmers Market Marketing Director Angel Miller. "I'll cut the thorns off the spikes before customers touch the kiwanis."

But inside, the African horned melon is a surprise.

"The kiwani seed cavity is full of what looks like green Jell-O that tastes like a tropical fruit mix with a hint of sour tang," Miller continues. "That green jelly is the part you eat."

The kiwanis are just one tiny part of Melon Fest, the second annual melon melange hosted by the Ooltewah Farmers Market. It should not be confused with Grayson, Ky.'s one-word MelonFest, which touts itself as the "Hillbilly Woodstock." And it definitely should not be mixed up with Kalamazoo, Mich.'s Showgirls Melon Fest, which offers watermelon carving and a Miss Melons contest that is frighteningly blunt about the criteria for winners.

The local Melon Fest is Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m. at Ooltewah Nursery & Landscape Co. Along with massive amounts of melons, there will be a seed-spitting contest with two categories: Adults and Kids, plus watermelon baked goods, Popsicles, candy, cookies, jelly and jams. Chef Deborah Anziano from Debo's Kitchen will bring Chile Lime Melon Salad for a zesty treat.

And Ooltewah Nursery Manager Kat McGraw - who earned her degree in horticulture from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville - says that Melon Fest visitors are almost certain to come across rare fruits they've never seen before.

"Perhaps their grandfathers have enjoyed some of these heirloom melons when the grandparents were young, but those fruits have seldom been seen or tasted since then," McGraw says.

"We have a lot of organic farmers who are growing rare heirloom melons. Some of them are very unusual and beautiful to look at. And they taste good."

Miller and her husband are actually farmers who sell at the Ooltewah Market. They own 2 Angels Mushroom Farm, which they founded in 2013. But Angel, who has a Chattanooga State Community College associate's degree in health and wellness, encountered an ancient Arizona melon so delicious and with such a rich provenance, she grew it for Melon Fest. The melons had been cultivated for hundreds of years by the Hopis, a sovereign Native American nation in Arizona.

"I first tasted them when my family was visiting a farmer's market in Sedona and a Hopi vendor was selling them," Miller recalls. "The melons are green and white-striped outside with bright-yellow flesh inside. I couldn't bring melons home on the plane, so I brought the seeds and planted them."

A different farmer is bringing Korean Silver Line Melons, golden orbs with thin silver stripes outside and sweet, snowy flesh. The farmer who grew them here first tasted them when he was visiting Korea. The Silver Lines were so delicious, like Miller, he brought the seeds home on the plane. Some Korean Silver Line Melons are served while still green and soft and taste a bit like honeydew.

The Moon & Stars Heirloom Watermelons have a deep-jade rind that's polka-dotted with yellow markings resembling stars. They normally have one big bright yellow blob on the exterior - the metaphorical "moon." Sometimes the melons look almost purple rather than dark green, but the moon and stars are still there. And Miller believes they taste sweeter than store-bought everyday watermelons.

"Grocery store melons are grown with shelf life in mind. Farmers market melons are grown for their taste," Miller says.

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics notes that there are some differences in the vitamins, minerals and fiber provided by different varieties of melons. Watermelons with red flesh, for example, get that rosy color from lycopene, a potent antioxidant. But the association says all melons are a good source of vitamin C, are low in fat and provide fiber.

Miller dubs Rich Sweetness melons as the most gorgeous of all the heirloom melons.

"The Rich Sweetness melons are about the size of baseballs. Their exterior is bright burgundy with yellow stripes and the flesh is white," she says. "They are visually stunning."

At Melon Fest, there are also sure to be plenty of samples so it might be wise to follow the final advice from the event's website:

"Bring some friends and some wet wipes, because this will be a sticky sweet good time!"

Contact Lynda Edwards at 423-757-6391 or ledwards@timesfreepress.com.