Melon Slice

Melon slices are a food item added in 1.8. They are farmable and can only be first obtained from Melons grown from the Melon Seeds found in Abandoned Mine Shafts. After farming the initial batch of seeds obtained from the chests, the player can grow additional melons using seeds from the melon slices without having to find them in chests.

Usage
The melon seed, when planted on Farmland, slowly grows into a stem which then spawns Melons with decent regularity in ajacent tilled farmland tiles so long as one is not already present. Melon slices are acquired by destroying the melons, each of which will drop 3-7 melon slices. Each melon slice restores and 1.2 points of Food Saturation. The high volume, low calorie nature of melon slices makes it somewhat like portable cake in that each consumption is almost never wasted on overhealing the hunger bar. On the other hand, due to the Food Saturation mechanic, whether or not and how much of a food is "wasted" is not necessarily clear cut. If the point were to restore Food Saturation to ensure the maximum amount of time before needing to maintain the hunger bar, then melon slices are very inefficient.

In addition to consumption as a food, melon slices can be crafted back into melon seeds, allowing unused portions to contribute directly to seed stock and the size of future harvests by exponentially increasing the number of productive stems. This is of course provided irrigated, arable soil is available in a secure area. This is a marked advantage over the other tilled-earth farming crop, wheat for which seed supply builds up much more slowly. The arrangement of melons also allows a much more straightforward harvesting method without having to sneak to avoid trampling tilled earth, nor requiring regular replanting as stems will stay productive indefinitely so long as they are protected. On the other hand, the low nutrition of each melon slice means the 1.6 seconds of time required to eat them quickly adds up. Moreover they provide almost no Food Saturation, so a diet of melons necessitates frequent stops to eat. Needless to say, this can be inconvenient in many situations, such as inside hostile mob-infested caverns.