Watermelon season in full swing as India embraces the African fruit as its own

With summer underway, fruit markets across India are flush with watermelons, their green-yellow striped skins and reddish, seed-studded interiors marking the season’s arrival. Known as turbuz in Hindi, vathakkai in Tamil, tormuj in Bengali, and Citrullus lanatus in botany, the fruit has become a staple of Indian summers.

Originally from Africa, the watermelon now ranks alongside apples, bananas, oranges, and grapes as one of the top five most cultivated fruits in the world. In India, centuries of cultivation have made it fully local. Suited to the country’s climate, it is grown, sold, and eaten widely in both rural and urban areas.

Food historian K.T. Achaya, in his 1998 book A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food, noted the long-standing use of gourds, including watermelon, in daily foods and as fresh fruit.

Delicious, affordable, and easy to grow, the watermelon has moved well beyond its African origins to become a fixture of Indian summer markets and meals.