(10/29/24) BATON ROUGE, La. — The LSU Red-N-Sweet watermelon will be featured on an episode of the PBS series “The Key Ingredient with Sheri Castle” during the show’s upcoming third season.

Red-N-Sweet was developed at LSU AgCenter Calhoun Research Station in Ouachita Parish. The first crosses that led to its development were made in 1972 and the variety was released in 1987. As its name implies, Red-N-Sweet is noted for its dark red flesh and high sugar content. The variety had disappeared from production until February of 2020, when LSU AgCenter horticulturist Kerry Heafner received some seeds from Lula Shurtleff of Union Parish. The seeds had been stored in Shurtleff’s freezer since at least 2006. Heafner grew out a sample of the seeds in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two food writers based in Virginia followed Heafner’s updates on social media. Deb Freeman and Joshua “Fitz” Fitzwater visited Heafner in West Monroe in 2021 to see Red-N-Sweet and two other Calhoun watermelons, Calhoun Sweet and Calhoun Gray.

Fitzwater, a writer and photographer, publishes Southern Grit magazine, a regional food magazine emphasizing chefs, food history and culture from the Richmond and Hampton Roads areas of Virginia.

Freeman is a food writer who focuses on the influence of African American cuisine on Southern foodways. She is the host of an acclaimed podcast “Setting the Table,” which can be heard as part of the Whetstone Radio Collective. Currently, she is the producer and host of a digital documentary series focusing on the late chef Edna Lewis. “Finding Edna Lewis” is produced through Virginia Public Media (VPM) and can be seen on VPM’s YouTube channel and Freeman’s social media pages. Each issue of Southern Grit magazine features Fitzwater and Freeman as “The Heirloom Hunters,” with the goal of finding, growing and eventually tasting heirloom watermelons.

Fitzwater’s father, Anthony, grew Red-N-Sweet in his gardens in Halifax, Virginia in 2022. Melons were distributed to select restaurants in the region and used in ways ranging from Red-N-Sweet watermelon beer to Red-N-Sweet sorbet to brûléed Red-N-Sweet. Southern Grit offered Red-N-Sweet seeds for sale in 2023 and, since harvesting another crop in 2024, will do so again later this year.

Red-N-Sweet was recently boarded onto the Slow Food Ark of Taste and is currently being grown in the gardens at The Tides Inn by staff horticulturist Matt Little. The resort, located in Irvington, Virginia, on the Rappahannock River near the Chesapeake Bay, provided the setting for the episode of “The Key Ingredient with Sheri Castle” that features the melon.

“The Key Ingredient with Sheri Castle” is produced and distributed through PBS North Carolina and begins its third season this month. Castle is an award-winning food writer and television host based near Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The program is broadcast by Louisiana Public Broadcasting (LPB) on LPB 3. The Red-N-Sweet episode streams starting Tuesday, Nov. 19. Go to lpb.org/schedule for additional air dates and times.

From left, Matt Little, horticulturist at The Tides Inn in Irvington, Va., Joshua Fitzwater and Deb Freeman of Southern Grit magazine and Sheri Castle, host of “The Key Ingredient with Sheri Castle,” produced by PBS North Carolina, pose with a Red-N-Sweet watermelon. The LSU variety will be featured on an upcoming episode of Castle’s program, which starts its third season this month on PBS. Photo used with permission of Joshua Fitzwater, Southern Grit magazine.