Social media regularly churns out food and recipe trends that, for a fleeting moment, seem to have the entire internet hooked. Sometimes a phenomenon grows so large that companies develop their own products based on it—as was the case with the viral Dubai chocolate. Other times, the craze vanishes just as quickly as it appeared.
This summer, a two-ingredient watermelon ice cream has been popping up all over our social media feeds. The concept is simple: carve a small hollow into a watermelon half and freeze it solid. Then, pour milk or cream into the hollow and scrape the frozen fruit flesh into the liquid. The end result is supposed to resemble ice cream.
Naturally, we had to give it a try. Watermelon is cheap in July; on the day of purchase, it was only €0.99 per kilo. I opted for the smallest melon I could find, ensuring it would fit in the freezer without consuming an unreasonable amount of electricity. So, I sliced the melon in half, scooped out a small hollow in the center, covered it in cling film, and left it in the freezer overnight.
By the next day, the watermelon half is hard as a rock. Thankfully, I had the foresight to carve the hollow the night before, as doing it now would be nearly impossible. Since handling a frozen watermelon quickly freezes your fingers, I found a suitably sized pot to hold the melon firmly in place. I poured a splash of plant-based "cream" into the hollow—due to a dairy allergy, this reporter avoids animal-based milk products—and grabbed a sharp little fork to start scraping.
A few minutes later, the first portion of "ice cream" takes shape in the center of the melon. Its appearance and texture are surprisingly reminiscent of store-bought ice cream, provided you overlook the seeds mixed in.
The taste, however, is a disappointment. The "ice cream" practically tastes like nothing at all. The watermelon flavor is so mild that you wouldn’t even notice it if you didn't already know it was the main ingredient. I whipped up another batch using real dairy for our child taste-tester, but the verdict was blunt: "Gross."
I gave it one last shot, swapping the cream for some leftover Coke from a birthday party the day before. The flavor was slightly better received, but the sorbet-like texture was icy and tooth-achingly cold.
The taste-testers' final verdict is harsh. Watermelon ice cream is highly unlikely to become a commercial hit on par with the Dubai chocolate. Sure, scraping a frozen melon makes for an eye-catching social media video, but the end product was thoroughly underwhelming. On a hot summer day, watermelon is much better enjoyed exactly as it is.