How Do You Pick a SWEET Watermelon?

[mookie]

nline:

There is nothing better than a bite of cold, sweet watermelon.:love:

And nothing more disappointing than expecting that refreshing, sweet taste and getting mushy, grainy or bland.:angry:

So...how do you pick a sweet, crunchy watermelon?

Thanks!

 

[Andy Chase]

My dad's tip was to look at the area where the watermelon was picked off the vine, the blacker that "belly button" was, the sweeter the watermelon was. It has something to do with the sugars inside.

 

[Bill Barber]

Just never buy a melon with a healed core,country boys on hot aug. nights do strange things with watermelons:throwup:

 

[Willie Anglin]

Wife loves watermelons so I have picked out quite a few. Even with the best system you cannot always tell. One thing you can get the knack of is looking at the area where it is white/yellow where it has sat on the ground. You can tell how ripe it is by how yellow it is. The more yellow the riper. Just have to do a few and then you can get the hang of it. Grow your own, you can get the little ones (bout big as a volley ball), they are really good. Just split them and eat them like you are eating out of a bowl.

 

[EddieS'04]

My dad thumps them. I have never got the teqnueqe..

 

[mookie]

Thanks guys!:haveabeer:

 

[Ed Fenwick]

Yes, thump it with your middle finger. It should just start to sound hollow. That is when the sugars have matured and it is starting to dry inside. With a cantaloupe, we always smelled the stem. It should smell like a sweet cantaloupe. Maybe the smell test will work on a watermelon.

 

[Gary Torrejos]

The best ways to tell if a watermelon is ripe. Where they pull it off the vine it should be a clean pull, no stem or cut stem. Thump it, should sound real tight sounding, like a snare drum, if its kinda dull sounding its either overripe or under ripe. Go check out where the half melons are if they look nice and red chances are the whole melons are good. If that does not work ,ask your produce guy to pick you one out.:grin:

 

[mookie]

Good tips!:supercool:

 

[Robert Caffyn]

I prefer to let it pick me!! Guarenteed sweet. BC