Nick Reynolds
Audio By Carbonatix
William James Norman started his own produce business some 25 years ago. Norman, or “Mr. Norman” as he was known by customers, passed away in 2018.
Today, Mr. Norman’s legacy carries on. His grandson, 34-year-old Christian Luckett-Palmer, carries that torch in the form of PawPaw’s Produce & Co.
You can often find Christian with a truck bed crammed full of immaculate, freshly-picked watermelons, along with various other garden selections (primarily fruit), depending on the time of year.
Aside from the freshest and juiciest watermelons you’d ever find, there may be peaches, plums, mangos, pineapples, cantaloupes – and even brightly colored Kool-Aid-brined pickles.
Most of the produce is sourced straight from South Texas and East Texas, and all is 100% organic. Christian knows the sellers personally – nothing is bought from stores.
A stocked truck bed full of locally sourced, organic Texas watermelons.
Nick Reynolds
In terms of freshness, anything offered out of Christian’s truck will be tough to beat. But the headliners are the red and yellow watermelons. Fresh loads of 150 watermelons are handpicked and driven into the city, often near the 2200 block of Ledbetter, where Christian parks his black pickup amidst the unforgiving Texas heat and awaits customers to swoop in (such as ourselves). And swoop in, they do.
“I’ve probably sold anywhere from two to three thousand watermelons since the beginning of summer,” said Christian, who was born and raised in Dallas. “They go pretty fast.”
When we asked the age-old question of how to best pick a ripe watermelon, Christian gave us a tutorial.
“The pat is everything. When patting a watermelon, is the sound hollow? Or is the sound flat? If the sound is flat, the melon is probably juicier. If it’s hollow, then it usually means a crispier, crunchier melon,” Christian told us. A trained eye like Christian’s can also tell by examining the watermelon’s stem.
Yellow watermelons are typically slightly sweeter with a more “candied” flavor profile.
Nick Reynolds
As for the difference between a yellow and traditional red watermelon, Christian notes that “yellow watermelons are milder, but a little sweeter with a more candied flavor.”
We picked up one of each. And we can attest that these melons, priced between $10 and $15 depending on the size, are legit. And they’ll run circles around any chain grocery store watermelon.
One final question we had for Christian, who’s about as friendly a guy as you’d ever meet, was salt or no salt?
“I prefer no salt. Just give me the watermelon as is. I want to taste the sweetness of it,” said Christian.
We’re with him on that. But he followed that up with a pro tip to try that blew our minds: watermelon with a glaze of honey and lemon. Which we tried. Dude. GAME-CHANGER.
PawPaw’s Produce & Co., 2206 E. Ledbetter Drive. Hours vary so check PawPaw’s Facebook page for updates.