Besides being flavorful, watermelon has many health benefits. Its red color comes from lycopene, an antioxidant, and one slice of watermelon contains most of the vitamin A you will need daily.

Native to Africa, watermelons are related to cucumbers, squash, and pumpkins. Over the years watermelons have been cross-pollinated to produce the seedless varieties (actually with edible immature seeds) preferred by most. Choose a melon that’s free of blemishes and is heavy for its size (with 92% water content it should be heavy), and look for a yellow, not white, spot on the bottom. This indicates that it’s ripe. Another sign of ripeness is a hollow sound when you tap it on its underside.

Uncut watermelon can be stored at room temperature for a week and refrigerated for two to three weeks. After the melon is cut and refrigerated it’s best eaten within a week.

I always thought it was strange that my father-in-law loved salt on his watermelon, but I’ve come around to agreeing that salt makes the melon sweeter. One of the best things about watermelon is there are so many different sweet and savory ways to prepare it-- watermelon smoothies, watermelon salads, grilled watermelon kebabs, watermelon gazpacho, watermelon rind pickles, and frozen watermelon sorbet.

To make watermelon sorbet freeze 6 cups seedless watermelon cubes and combine with 1 cup sweetened condensed milk and ¼ teaspoon salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and process until smooth. Scrape into a container and freeze for 2 hours.

Cubes of bright pink watermelon combined with salty feta cheese and fresh herbs make a refreshing salad. Combine about 4 cups cubed watermelon, ¼ cup basil or mint, ½ cup crumbled feta cheese and 1 cup cucumber slices in a bowl. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons lime juice or your favorite vinaigrette and serve.

Chef Tip: This will make peeling the tomatoes super easy: Cut an X on the flower end of a tomato, just piercing the skin Drop the tomato in boiling water for 1 minute; remove and place in an ice bath. Remove from the ice water and use a paring knife to peel off the skin.

This recipe is adapted from Come on Over by Elizabeth Heiskell, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt ($30.00).

When it‘s blazing hot outside the last thing you want to do is turn on the oven. Instead, plan a dinner with little or no cooking featuring an appetizer of gazpacho followed by grilled steak or pork along with a hearty bottle of Mount Veeder Winery Cabernet Sauvignon ($44), which will perfectly accentuate the menu.

Hieskell writes, “When I make this soup, I prefer to keep it pretty chunky. Just a few pulses in the food processor and I am done. If you prefer, you can process the hell out of it and then push it through a fine-mesh strainer. This produces a more refined and elegant presentation. Add a little dollop of crabmeat or cold boiled shrimp and buddy, you have got one showstopper on your hands.”

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