When Are Baby Sweet Watermelon Ready to Pick
How to Pick the Best, Juiciest Watermelons
Information technology can be a lilliputian catchy to know beforehand what you'll find when you slice open up a whole watermelon. Merely if you know what to expect for, you've got a better gamble of picking a ripe one.
The showtime people ever to crevice open a watermelon must have thought they hit the jackpot (permit's fix aside the fact that jackpots might not have been a matter back then). Full of water to quench the thirst and meaty fruit to fill the tummy, plus information technology comes in its own weatherproof package? Thanks, Female parent Nature!
Just information technology'southward that solid rind that makes it hard to guess what's inside: Is it ripe and juicy or dry and mealy? Here's how to tell if a watermelon is ripe, plus tips for storing watermelon and favorite watermelon recipes.
How to Pick a Good Watermelon
Await for a Yellow Patch
Watermelons grow on vines that run along the ground, developing a lite-colored patch on their undersides where the sun doesn't reach. Pick upwards a watermelon and look for that patch, also called a field spot.
If information technology's creamy yellow, that indicates the melon was ripe when information technology was picked. If it'due south white or light-green, it was probably picked too shortly and isn't ripe. And no, watermelons do not ripen after they're picked.
Await for the yellow patch that indicates ripeness. |
Choose a Heavy Melon
A ripe watermelon volition experience heavier than you wait when you lot lift it. That weight is due to the high water content — up to 92 percent. As a watermelon ages, information technology actually loses water weight and becomes dry out and mealy. So if it feels too calorie-free, it's just not right.
Consider the Complexion
Since watermelon cultivars can range in color from very dark green with no stripes to quite pale with streaky greenish stripes, the greeness of the rind isn't the best indication of ripeness. If you're looking at a whole brandish of the aforementioned kind of watermelon, just look for a fairly smooth skin.
A little chip of gnarlyness is okay — after all, it spent its life lying in a field — simply there should not exist cracks, bruises, or mushy spots. The overall surface should be matte instead of shiny (too shiny means it's not ripe). And check for that yellow field spot.
Requite It a Knock
Some folks swear by this: A ripe watermelon will sound hollow when you lot tap it. If it's mushy inside, the sound volition be muted.
Follow the Bees
Despite your best efforts at choosing a perfect melon, you might nevertheless cease upwards with a watermelon whose inner mankind has cracked wide open up. This condition is called hollow eye, and while it might exist disconcerting to look at, it doesn't bear upon the sense of taste or quality of the melon. Agricultural scientists used to think information technology was acquired by irregular growth periods in the field, but now they suspect a lack of pollination resulting in a failure of seed production.
Fun Fact #1. Watermelon seeds were found in the tomb of Tutankhamun, who ruled Egypt from 1332 to 1323 B.C. It was common practice to identify watermelons in majestic burial chambers to provide nourishment in the afterlife.
Types of Watermelon
So that's how to tell if a watermelon is ripe. Now let's expect at some watermelon varieties.
Watermelon doesn't just come in reddish. |
| Credit: Meredith
Ask a kid to draw a watermelon, and you'll probably go the usual greenish on the outside and red on the within. But, with more than 1,200 varieties out at that place, watermelons come in many shapes, colors, and flavors (not all are sweet).
- In Japan, farmers have developed a square watermelon, designed for piece of cake storage in your fridge. And they didn't stop at that place; they've got cone- and middle-shaped watermelons, too. Customers pay big for the novelty, of class.
- And though ane of childhood's greatest pleasures is seeing how far you tin can spit watermelon seeds, crossbreeding has produced watermelons without seeds.
Fun Fact #2. Yep, you can roast watermelon seeds the same way you can roast pumpkin seeds. Subsequently all, they share the same family tree.
How Long Does Watermelon Concluding?
Watermelon is picked off the vine when information technology'south ripe, and then it's best to eat it within a calendar week of buying information technology at the grocery store.
- If you bought information technology fresh from the field or in a farmers' market, it could last up to 3 or four weeks uncut. If you lot tin can't eat information technology correct abroad, store it in a absurd identify.
- A piece of cut watermelon should exist wrapped well in plastic, stored in the fridge, and eaten inside ane or two days.
- Serving sliced watermelon at your cookout? Put it on water ice to keep it nice and cold for food safety.
Fun Fact #3. A monster melon from Tennessee holds the world tape for the heaviest watermelon. Grown in 2013 and weighing in at 350+ pounds, it was the pride and joy of Chris Kent, who spent about 4 hours a day tending to his melons. (Probably to keep them from attacking.)
Is Watermelon Expert For You?
Watermelon is both delicious and nutritious. Information technology'due south a good source of lycopene, a powerful antioxidant, and it's ranked as an anti-inflammatory fruit. Plus y'all're bitter into naturally hydrating electrolytes, and vitamins A and C for good for you skin and hair. A cup of watermelon contains a mere 46 calories, which you can burn off by tossing a huge watermelon around for 10 or 15 minutes.
Fun Fact #4. Tin you freeze watermelon? Yes and no. You can brand watermelon ice cubes by cutting up the fruit into squares and freezing them on a lined baking sheet. Once the cubes are frozen, transfer them to a cypher-elevation freezer bag. They're great for chilling drinks but non for eating — they lose their well-baked texture in the freezing process.
Related
- Make the Virtually of Watermelon Flavor With These Favorite Recipes
- Gorgeous Watermelon Drinks to Bust Your Thirst All Summertime
- Become all the watermelon recipes.
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Source: https://www.allrecipes.com/article/how-to-pick-watermelon/
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