Watermelon Returns to Restaurant Menus, from Grilled Slices to Fermented Creations

Watermelon is enjoying a culinary revival in Israel, moving far beyond the old pickled versions served in traditional Romanian restaurants. Chefs are now using it in everything from Asian-style salads and watermelon with pak choi to more experimental dishes such as fermented, smoked, grilled, and even sous vide watermelon.

The article centers on organic growers Michal Havivian and her partner Boaz, who cultivate vegetables near Beit Shemesh and grow their watermelons in Naham and Hodaya. Havivian says their fruit has an old-fashioned flavor that is close to what watermelons used to taste like before industrial farming changed the crop. She offers practical advice for choosing a good watermelon, including checking that the rind is green and thick, that the stem comes off easily, and that tapping it produces a dull, resonant sound rather than a hollow one. A yellow sun spot and prominent veins are also positive signs. The couple prefers male watermelons, which Boaz says taste more like watermelon, while female fruit taste like sugar.

Several chefs are featured with dishes built around the fruit. Shiral Berger of the vegan gourmet restaurant Opa ferments the white part with salt and herbs such as rue and lemon geranium, and also makes watermelon ice cream with shio koji oil. Chef Aner Ben Rafael Fuhrman served feta coated in pumpkin and sunflower seeds with watermelon sauce, alongside a salad of watermelon rinds, lime, and cilantro. Havivian herself shares a recipe for grilled watermelon salad, saying the cooking concentrates the flavor. She notes that her melons still have seeds and encourages eating them. Boaz says they grow a local variety called Harei Adom, which is small, very sweet, and has the old taste they prefer.

The couple also explains why watermelons have become more expensive. They say watermelon patches in Israel have shrunk, large farmers now dominate pricing, and labor, water, and other agricultural inputs have all soared. Watermelon requires a lot of water, they say, but it is irrigated only in winter and spring before being stressed so it can ripen. The piece closes with three recipes, for watermelon carpaccio, grilled watermelon salad, and watermelon with sheep feta.