What do our Japanese writers think about putting lemon juice on watermelon?

Depending on where you’re from, you may have a very specific way of eating watermelon. For example, in Japan, people almost always put salt on their melons. As someone from the U.S., this was a bit of a surprise for me, but it’s not bad by any means!

However, P.K., one of the writers for our Japanese site, recently discovered that people in Italy apparently put lemon juice on their watermelon. We’re not sure how accurate that is, but he decided to give it a try anyway! Will he like it better than salt? Will his fellow writers enjoy it too? Read on to find out!

P.K. first learned of this combination thanks to Takeshi Sasaki, a chef at Amici, an Italian restaurant in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture. According to an Instagram photo/caption by Sasaki, putting lemon juice on watermelon is the best way to eat the fruit — and it’s apparently a common thing to do in Italy. Being a brave adventurer, P.K. naturally decided to give it a try himself!

▼ Sasaki’s Instagram photo makes our stomachs growl.

https://instagram.com/p/4O0KiQHMsl/

Inspired by this revelation, P.K. ran out and bought some watermelon and a lemon and got chopping! A few minutes later he was ready to begin the taste test.

▼ It puts the lemon juice on the watermelon or else it gets the hose again.

As you may imagine, this is a fairly easy dish to prepare. You just squeeze some lemon juice on a piece of watermelon and…yep, that’s it! But once it was ready, P.K. had no idea what to expect. It seems like it would a good match, but it’s hard to tell, right? So our writer takes a bite and…

▼ Chewing, chewing, chewing…

▼ “Oh, yeah!”

P.K. absolutely loved it! He even said it might be the best watermelon he’s ever eaten. Just as salt draws out the sweetness of watermelon, the lemon juice accentuated the watermelon’s sweetness. He said it was like someone had created a new watermelon!

Our writer also added that one of the popular shaved ice flavors in Italy is lemon, surmising that many Italians enjoy sweet and sour flavors. He guessed that the idea to squeeze lemon juice on watermelon was inspired by the same taste.

But P.K. wondered if he were the only one who liked it and decided to test the combination on some other writers. Would they like it more than salt and watermelon, as he did??

▼ Meg said it was delicious.

▼ Go gave it a thumbs up before charging back out into the desert.

▼ Wasai said it was even better than with salt!

▼ Mr Sato’s comment? “I really want some salt…”

In total, P.K. surveyed six writers, and all but that sexy Mr. Sato said they love the lemon juice/watermelon combination even more than salt. Of course, everyone is sure to have different opinions on what tastes best — it’s all in your head after all. But even if you’ve been happy to sprinkle salt on your watermelon until now, maybe it’s time to try some lemon juice. You may never go back!

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