Water Melon and Onion Salad

This sounds like a very odd combination but it is truly delightful.  I haven't found anyone yet who dislikes this and it becomes a talking point around the table at summer barbeques. 

I first came across the recipe back in 1966 when my family migrated from England to Australia.

We traveled on a ship called the Fairstar and part way through our journey we docked at Adelaide where we met up with my Mum's brother and family who had opted for the Aussie lifestyle many years before. 

We were allowed a few hours in Adelaide before resuming our journey to Cairns in North Queensland.

Uncle Eric and Aunty Ena met us in their car and we went to their home for a barbeque lunch. 

This was the first BBQ we had ever had.  Anyway one of the salads was Water Melon And Onion.  We all fell in love with it. One other incident I clearly remember from that day was the delay in getting back to the port to re-join the ship.  We were held up in traffic and the ship was just about to leave when we arrived dockside.  I can get myself in a panic right now just thinking about it.  I can't stand being late for anything.

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To convert any of these ingredients into US measurements please use this Quantity Conversion Chart.

Ingredients:

4 cups of pink water melon diced into 1 cm (half inch) cubes
1 tablespoon onion, diced as finely as you can dice anything.

Method:

Mix the onion and water melon and let stand for half an hour.

Serves 4 -6

Notes:

This salad is not so good if left un-eaten for a while.  The onion draws out the juice in the melon and it can become a bit sloppy.  Enjoy whilst it is fresh.  Let me know if you enjoyed it please.

Food Facts:

Watermelons contain as much iron as spinach and many other vitamins & minerals.  Water melons contain less vitamin C than rock melons (cantaloupes).  When eaten by itself melon is easy to digest but when eaten with other foods it is said to inhibit the absorption of nutrients from those other foods.  One of the earliest records of melons is in an Egyptian tomb painting from 2400 B.C.

Onions are high in energy and have good amounts of B6, B1, and Folic acid in them.  They contain chemicals which fight free radicals in our bodies.  Free radicals cause disease and destruction in our cells.  Onions have anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties in them.  These properties are most potent when the onion is eaten raw.  Onions raise the levels of beneficial HDL cholesterol and they lower the levels of the bad LDL cholesterol.