National Watermelon Day on Tuesday, August 3, 2027, honors a fruit people were painting on Egyptian tomb walls about 4,360 years ago. A 2021 DNA study finally traced where it came from.
Watermelon Day Arrives Each August
Look for it on August 3. U.S. shipments usually peak around July, so the fruit is still in season.
A Sudanese Ancestor
No one has traced who started the food day. The fruit’s own family tree, though, was rewritten in 2021.
Starting in the 1930s, scientists thought watermelon came from the citron melon of South Africa. Botanists at Kew now call that idea “a taxonomic mistake.”
Susanne Renner of the University of Munich and Guillaume Chomicki of the University of Sheffield led the new work. Their team sequenced the DNA of watermelon and its wild relatives.
The closest match was the Kordofan melon of Sudan. Unlike most of its cousins, it has white, non-bitter pulp.
Egyptian art backs that up. The findings appeared in PNAS, and one Nile Valley tomb painting shows a fruit matching the Kordofan melon’s shape.
Bitterness explains why the match matters. The genus Citrullus has seven species, and most wild ones are inedible raw because of compounds called cucurbitacins, which can be lethal.
Its other wild cousins are scattered. One grows in West Africa, and another ranges from northern Africa to West India. The 2021 team also produced the first detailed genetic map of the Kordofan melon.
Watermelon in early America
Colonial Virginians already grew it. Thomas Jefferson made a note about watermelons in his garden book on July 27, 1769.
He recorded a neighbor’s estimate that “40.f. square of watermelons will supply a family that is not very large.”
The seedless revolution
Seedless melons came from Japan. Professor H. Kihara published “Triploid Watermelons,” and American researcher O.J. Eigsti worked with him to develop seedless varieties here.
It works through a cross between a plant with two sets of chromosomes and one with four. The resulting seeds have three sets and grow into sterile fruit, the National Watermelon Promotion Board explains.
Development began in 1951 and took more than 20 years to reach farms. Seedless melons now make up about 92% of U.S. watermelon sales.
Why the Fruit Gets a Day
Watermelon is a summer staple. In 2024, it ranked third among fresh fruits in U.S. per capita availability, behind bananas and apples. Each American had just over 15 pounds available that year.
Georgia overtook Florida as the top U.S. grower in 2025, the USDA’s Economic Research Service reports. It produced 813 million pounds, or 21.0% of the national crop, against Florida’s 798 million.
Imports fill the gaps. They made up 34% of domestic supply in 2025, peaking in May and again in October.
Ways to Enjoy National Watermelon Day
- Shop the season: U.S. shipments peak around July, so early August is still prime time.
- Try a Georgia melon: the state grew more than any other in 2025.
- Eat it like an ancient Egyptian: serve it raw and chilled as a dessert, as the tomb paintings show.
- Check the white seeds: those soft seed coats in seedless melons are immature seeds and safe to swallow.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where do most U.S. watermelon exports go?
Almost all go to Canada, and more than half ship in June and July.
Which wild relatives grow in southern Africa?
Four species, including the citron melon, are native to the Namib–Kalahari region.
How many U.S. farms grow watermelons?
About 12,460 operations at the latest count, down from a peak of 13,520.
Is seedless watermelon genetically modified?
No. It comes from ordinary cross-breeding, and growers plant seeded vines nearby to pollinate it.
Sources
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew – Where Do Watermelons Come From? (2021)
- USDA Economic Research Service – U.S. Watermelon Production (2026)
- Penn State Extension – Watermelon Production in the United States
- Encyclopedia Virginia – Excerpt From Thomas Jefferson’s Garden Book (1769)
- National Watermelon Promotion Board – Where Does Seedless Watermelon Come From?