Square watermelons

Japanese grocery stores had aproblem. They are much smaller than their US counterparts andtherefore don't have room to waste. Watermelons, big and round, wasteda lot of space. Most people would simply tell the grocery stores thatwatermelons grow round and there is nothing that can be done about it.But some Japanese farmers took a different approach. If thesupermarkets want a space efficient watermelon, they askedthemselves, how can we provide one? It wasn't long before theyinvented the square watermelon.

The solution to the problem of round watermelons wasn't nearly as difficult to solve for those who didn't assume the problem was impossible to begin with and simply asked how it could be done. It turns out that all you need to do is place them into a square box when they are growing and the watermelon will take on the shape of the box.

This made the grocery stores happy and had the added benefit that it was much easier and cost effective to ship the watermelons. Consumers also loved them because they took less space in their refrigerators which are much smaller than those in the US - which resulted in the growers being able to charge a premium price for them.

Source: hardknoxlife.wordpress.comAdded: 25 August 2008