When you’re buying your watermelon, the biggest issue and always challenging task is choosing the best, sweetest, crispest melon. We’ve all had bad experiences with tasteless, mealy fruit or underripe melons that taste like rind, so tips on selecting the perfect watermelon are always helpful. Here are 7 common suggestions:
1. The first rule is to buy a melon during its peak season. Summertime, baby! May through September are prime months for watermelon in the US. This is it!
2. Look for unform, rounder shape. Some say that rounder melons tend to be sweeter than oval, and that may be the case, but oval watermelons can also just indicate a different variety of the fruit. In either case, avoid fruit with irregular bumps that may mean inconsistent sun or water in spots.
3. Examine the field spot and exterior of the melon. The field spot is the creamy yellowish spot where the melon rested on the ground. The more dark yellow the field spot appears, the longer it sat on the vine, and the sweeter the fruit. If the field spot is whiter in color or there is no spot at all, the melon is underripe. While a “pretty” watermelon may look perfectly green or green striped all around, that’s not what’s best for choosing a ripe melon that tastes good. A dull exterior appearance also indicates a riper melon, but that’s a little trickier to determine, with many stores or producers waxing the fruit.
4. Test the weight. Choose the heaviest watermelon for its size. A heavy watermelon means more water content—juicier and sweeter!
5. Thump it. This is an old tip handed down through the ages, but without lots of experience with what a good watermelon “sounds like,” it’s not the best gauge. When you tap or thump the watermelon, you want to hear a deep, hollow sound with your knuckles bouncing off a hard, firm flesh. A dull thud or soft flesh indicate that the melon is overripe or starting to spoil. The surface of the watermelon should have little to no give and no soft spots.
6. Look for sugar spots and pollination points. Sugar spots and pollination points can look like webbing or darker spots like dirt, but they don’t wipe off. These indicate a spot where sugar is seeping out and are a great indicator of a sweet melon. Pollination points are dots in a line and the more of these the better when it comes to getting a sweet, ripe melon.
7. Observe the stem. If there is a stem, check to see whether it is brown or green. A brown stem indicates that the watermelon ripened on the vine, whereas a green stem would mean it was picked early.
If you thought you were alone in the watermelon-picking anxiety, you’ll be comforted to just see the sheer number of videos on YouTube dedicated to the practice! Feel free to check them out if you need more assistance than our guidelines here.
