Have you tried to enjoy a fruit such as a juicy luscious watermelon only to constantly have to spit out the seeds into your palm or somewhere else? If you are trying to impress anyone, spitting out seeds does not head the list, does it?  Well, there seems to be an answer to this question of; to eat or not to eat?  Seedless fruits! These come in all manner of fruit such as watermelons, grapes and bananas. But why remove the seeds? To avoid the inconvenience of spitting the seeds out, a whole process is applied to the fruits. Some of these seeds can be reproduced into new plants by cutting the fruit into another new one and joining them (grafting) so that they can grow into one new one.

Although you may want to ignore the seeds in fruits and instead go directly to the fleshy pulp, seeds are very healthy too. Some of these seeds are rich in nutrients such as minerals, essential oils and vitamins as well as the much needed fiber.  Take for instance flax seeds; these are pretty high in unique nutrients such as magnesium as well as omega. Nuts in all shapes and sizes are also great sources of high protein that keep you alert and well.

On the contrary, there are some seeds in fruits like some type of apples which may contain poisonous substances that can cause harm if many of the seeds are chewed! In this case you will be very happy not to have the bitter seeds! 

Outside the plant world, it is amazing how the word seed is used interchangeably to mean so many different things.  The analogy of life, in its self as a seed is very often used. Just like a plant seed, a human being’s life goes through all the same processes of planting- conception, and growing, wilting (aging) and eventually dying out, giving way to more promising seeds(young children) in the environment!   And the cycle continues until the end of time.

Another common reference is the seed of Abraham, when referring to Christ. This is a very popular saying with Christians. A brilliant idea can also be seen as a seed that needs to be watered and grown. Other interesting references to seeds are: thoughts; or ideas in a person’s head. These can be seeds of self-doubt or anger or seeds of success to mention but a few. Then you can also sow seeds or wild oats. What will a seedless future be like then?

The writer is an educator and counsellor

lnakibuuka@yahoo.com