Jesus Fruit

Square watermelons? Pears shaped like little Buddhas? Yes, it's possible. So is bearing fruit that the apostle calls the "fruit of the Spirit."

Fruit comes in all shapes and sizes. Well, maybe not all, but quite a few. Some are spherical — like oranges, blueberries and grapes. Others are oblong — like mangoes and papayas. Still others are apple- or banana-shaped like ... apples and bananas.

Some farmers, though, are challenging our assumptions about the shape of fruit.

Watermelons, for example, no longer need to be the rounded oblong shape with which we are most familiar. Go to the right market, and you may find square watermelons grown by botanical artists. At a restaurant, the cucumbers in your salad might appear heart-shaped rather than round, due to the produce shaping of another farmer.

While amazing, forming produce into basic shapes like squares and hearts is just the beginning.

One agricultural virtuoso has developed a process where pears — having long been pear-shaped — can now arrive at your farmer's market in the shape of little Buddhas. The arms and facial features are so well-defined that the...