Watermelon Seed

If You Read Nothing Else

One of the highest plant-protein seeds by weight (~30% by dry mass).

Rich in magnesium is a mineral most adults quietly under-eat.

Carries L-citrulline, which the body turns into nitric oxide — the signal that lets blood vessels relax.

The classical Persian Yalda seed: cool, hydrating, kidney-flushing.

What Else to Know

For centuries, Persians have loved roasted, salted tokhmeh hendevāneh as an ajeel seed, cracking the tiny black shells between their teeth around every Yalda-night watermelon. The shelled kernel is a modest nutritional powerhouse: ~8 g plant protein per ounce, dense magnesium and zinc, and a distinctive amount of L-citrulline, the amino acid the body converts to arginine to relax blood vessels.

Known to botanists as Citrullus lanatus.