NEW GASTRONOMIC DELIGHTS 

Are you old enough to remember the days when all oranges and grapes had seeds? When kiwi fruit was unknown. How about a potatolike food that looked like a green banana and they call a plantain, or haven't you tried that yet?

All that is minor to what you will be seeing, feeling and tasting in the next few years. New delights are coming to grocery shelves.

This year will see volume distribution of the new basketballshaped seedless watermelon -- all you've wanted in a watermelon and less. This 15 to 18 pound watermelon is sweeter, crunchier and easier to handle, with no seeds to ungraciously spit out. And, after you carve out the deep red fruit, the shell makes a great salad bowl. The Sun World Seedless (TM) watermelon, as it is known also takes up less room in your refrigerator.

After 50 years of cross-pollination trials, research and development these watermelons are growing right now on 2,000 acres in some six U.S. states and will be available almost every month of the year. Last year a 180-acre harvest and marketing test was successfully completed in Southern California.

Grown from original work by geneticist Dr. O.J. Eigsti, one of the first to produce hybrid corn, an average slice of this watermelon contains only 155 calories, is 88 percent water, contains Vitamin A and C and is naturally low in sodium. It also has a thinner rind. It should sell here from 10 to 20 cents more than seeded watermelon.

This is not all. The same Indio, California company Sun World International, has decided to produce designer "DeVine" tomatoes that are succulent, taste like home-grown and are not ripened artificially. They also produce "LaRouge Royale", a sweet and mild flaming red pepper and a sweet, yellow pepper with the designer label "Le Jaune Royale". These varieties just don't spring from Mother Nature. The "DeVine" tomato took $1 million to develop. That's part of the reason why they charge a premium for this specialty product. If the name Sun World, sounds familiar it may be because they introduced the first seedless red grape, "Red Flame" in the late 1970s.

Grocery shelves currently are carrying an average of 225 produce items (up 300 percent in the last ten years). That may seem like a lot of choices but tomorrow's shelves will be offering such diversified produce as Radiccio (like an Italian endive), Venetian broccoli, cherimoya (a sub-tropical fruit) chayote (a Mexican squash), Jujube (a Chinese date) and feijoa (pineapple-like flavored tropical fruit).

According to food innovators and entrepreneurs at the cutting-edge of the premium quality farm market, the fact that more North Americans are traveling these days has greatly speeded up globalization of their palates. They taste an exotic food overseas, hear about it being served in a high class local restaurant, and create demand at the neighborhood grocery. Voila, it appears. Grocery stores are showing that consumer voices are being heard. More information: David Marguleas, Manager, Merchandising & Corporate Relations, Sun World International, 82-203 Indio Blvd., Indio, Calif. 92201.

Phone: (619) 398-6181. Fax: (619) 342-7178

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