"square" news and stories

Square watermelons (and even pyramidal ones) have been around in Japan for several years, and now grocery stores in the UK will sell them, according to the Daily Mail. Tesco will start selling the melons in October for less than £5 (approximately $9), far cheaper than the cube-shaped melons usually retail for in Japan. The melons, which are shaped by the clear plastic boxes they're raised in, will be imported from Brazil.

We have seen pyramidal watermelons before, and we have known that square watermelons have been on the Japanese market for some time. I have never seen one in my local market, but I would definitely not mind getting my hands on one just for the novelty factor. Fortunately, I caught a post that showed how to do it when I was browsing at Boing Boing. It looks like you just put the immature watermelon into a box with a removable side. As it matures, it grows into the shape of the box - just like a bonsai kitten, but much less disturbing.

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The Japanese have had square watermelons for a while. Due to lack of space, the most pragmatic thing to do to a watermelon is, well, to square it. These edgy melons come at a price of $82 each. I'm not sure on what occasion I would buy a watermelon if it were that expensive, but it sure wouldn't be for a quick snack!

Now, the Japanese have innovated again with pyramid-shaped watermelons. I'm a little confused about the practical applications of this--perhaps one could stack more watermelons in a given space by interleaving them.

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