Is it possible to pick the sweetest watermelon every single time? It turns out that if you know what to look for your can drastically increase your success rate. Like many people, I just thought if you knocked on the watermelon a couple of times and it sounded hollow and heavy then you have a winner. Right?
Can you imagine my disappointment when the day I discovered, that knocking on a water melon is pointless. So the next time you see someone knocking on one, its probably a good time to start a silly ‘knock knock’ joke… LOL! On a serious note though, below you will find 5 simple tips that you can learn and use when selecting your watermelons. Good Luck!
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Tip 1: Compare Weight
Lift a few of the watermelons, you are looking for one that is extremely heavy for its size. What that means is that there is plenty of water inside, hence it should be nice and ripe.
Compare the weight of watermelons of the similar size. The heavy one is the riper of the two, so carry out a process of elimination. You can use this test for most other fruits and vegetables.
Step 2: Inspect Color
Take the time to carefully inspect your watermelon. The best ones are dark green in color, and are not shiny in their appearance. If your watermelon is shiny, it is most likely not ripe.
Step 3: Examine Field Spot
Identify the ‘field spot’ on the bottom of the watermelon. This is the area that was on the ground as the watermelon ripened under the sun in the field. In this test, you want the melon with the darker field spot.
The explanation behind this test is simple, watermelons with white or non exsistent field spots were in most cases picked too early before ripening in the fields.
Step 4: Thwap That Melon
Forget knocking on the melon, hold it like you are cradling a new born baby. Then when you are ready give it a good thwap with the palm of your hand. A good melon will send vibrations down to your cradling hand.
Step 5: Stem Check
Stay away from any melons that still have a stem on them. They were picked before they were quite ripe otherwise they would have easily come off their vine. However, if there is a slight indentation in the bottom of the melon, that is a good one as it came off the vine by itself.
How About Pre-Sliced Melons? You want the slices, that have bright red flesh and also dark brown or black seeds. Stay away from those that have white streaks and too many white seeds. Also if the flesh is looking dry, mealy or is showing separation from the seeds.
You can watch the video below on how to pick the sweetest watermelon…
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