The future is now: Hundreds of square watermelons are being grown each year in Japan, and they are just as visually shocking as you might imagine.
Apparently, the fruit is cultivated for upscale markets across the island nation, where they regularly sell for upwards of $80. Before you die of sticker shock, however, you should know that square watermelons have been bought for as much as $860, demonstrating the financial lengths that some individuals are willing to go to for the novelty fruit.
According to The Huffington Post, square watermelons were originally cultivated to fit more efficiently into refrigerators. Baby watermelons are placed inside of special boxes, forcing the fruit to take the shape of its container as it grows, resulting in a cubic adult melon.
Unfortunately, though, despite the food’s hefty price tag, square watermelons are not good to eat. In order to produce the most aesthetically pleasing fruit possible, growers harvest the melons before they are ripe, rendering them almost inedible.
If you are left wondering why anyone would ever pay $80 for an inedible fruit, you’re not alone. While expensive fruit is a customary gift in Japan, we can’t imagine the disappointment of receiving purely ornamental food as a present.
We suggest that you feast your eyes on the stunning images below, before heading to the grocery store for a cheaper watermelon -- on which you can actually feast. We’ll stick to crowding our refrigerators with edible fruit for now, thank you very much.