2 September 2014
The Short Answer (TSA)
The late-comedian George Carlin once noted that there is no “blue food.” Sensing a potential challenge, he went on to explain that blueberries were really purple and not blue. I don’t agree, but will concede the blueberries do have enough purple to take them out of the pure blue category. Lemons are yellow. Limes are green. Oranges are orange. But blueberries are a kind of blue-purple color. So, the world continues to wait for the discovery of the first true-blue food.
Japanese Moonmelon
Then, in 2011, the wait ended with the arrival of the Japanese Moonmelon. This melon looked almost exactly like a watermelon. Only, where the watermelon was pink, the moonmelon was a deep dark blue. This beautiful fruit had more than good looks. It also tasted good. But there was even more.
The moonmelon seemed to be the perfect party fruit because of its miraculous “flavor-switching” quality. What is flavor-switching? Well, the moonmelon’s sweet taste was always the same. But one taste of the moonmelon would change the taste of whatever food you ate next. Sour foods, like lemons are vinegar, would taste sweet. A salty snack would taste bitter. Just plain water would taste orange-flavored.
How had this stunningly delicious and entertaining fruit stayed hidden for so long? Well, it was easy to keep the moonmelon a secret because it didn’t really exist. Someone had doctored a photo to make a plain old pink watermelon look blue. Then, the wonderful taste and flavor switching qualities of the mythical fruit were made-up as well.
Hoax or not, the moonmelon made quite an impression. After its first appearance and “unmasking” in 2011, the moonmelon hoax kept coming back to life. In 2014, the moonmelon, again, created a stir with the stunning appearance of the “altered” photos and the description of “flavor switching.”
As Molly McHugh of The Daily Dot put it, the moon melon is, by far, “the most popular fruit that doesn’t actually exist.”
See also:
A history of Moonmelon, the most popular fruit that doesn’t actually exist
Is ‘Moon Melon’ Real Blue Watermelon ‘Asidus’ Fruit Goes Viral On Pinterest And Twitter
M Grossmann of Hazelwood, Missouri & Belleville, Illinois
30 September 2014
Lots of Moons & Music 