How do you find a nice ripe watermelon?

[lozina]

I always seem to pick watermellon which has a dark red flesh in some areas which turns out is over-ripe and tastes kinda nasty... how do I find the good ones?

 

[hzl eyed grl]

I usually thump it and if it sounds sort of "hollow", that's the one I pick.

 

[Tylanner]

all melons are disgusting

 

[SVT Cobra]

Knock on it, the hollower it sounds, the more sweet it is. Then shake it, if it sloshes around, it's to ripe, if you hear nothing your good to go.

Also generally go with a small "baby" sized watermelon as they are sweeter then a huge monster of a melon.

 

[tfinch2]

If I told you I'd probably get banned.

 

[lozina]

when you say "thump" it, you use the end of one of your fingers? a knuckle? bottom of fist?

 

[Baked]

Find the one that doesn't look like it's been punched around?

Originally posted by: Tylanner
all melons are disgusting

Racist.

 

[potato28]

Originally posted by: tfinch2
If I told you I'd probably get banned.

Same

 

[lozina]

So color of the skin has nothing to do with it? I used to look for the lighter colored ones than the dark green ones

 

[JinLien]

Dull thump sound when tap is a good indication, small brown tendrel at the top of the fruit also indicate age/ripness, and yellowish under side spot instead of whitish colour suggest a ripe mellon.

A really dull thump or sloshing when shake indicate that it is bruised or extreamly over ripe.

Best method is to purchase 2 water melons in the same batch with opposite/extream selection and split both to find which is best. Then purchase the next melon base upon your semi scientific finding.

 

[SVT Cobra]

Originally posted by: lozina
when you say "thump" it, you use the end of one of your fingers? a knuckle? bottom of fist?

Middle knuckle, facing down. Knock lightly. Also look for ones with the stem still attatched, if it doesn't have a stem it was picked too late/early.

 

[cleanerupper]

Originally posted by: F22 Raptor
Knock on it, the hollower it sounds, the more sweet it is. Then shake it, if it sloshes around, it's to ripe, if you hear nothing your good to go.

Also generally go with a small "baby" sized watermelon as they are sweeter then a huge monster of a melon.

x2. Although much more expensive for how much you get, you can never really go wrong with the baby sized watermelons.

 

[Kelvrick]

Originally posted by: cleanerupper

Originally posted by: F22 Raptor
Knock on it, the hollower it sounds, the more sweet it is. Then shake it, if it sloshes around, it's to ripe, if you hear nothing your good to go.

Also generally go with a small "baby" sized watermelon as they are sweeter then a huge monster of a melon.

x2. Although much more expensive for how much you get, you can never really go wrong with the baby sized watermelons.

Yep, the 2 packs of pureheart from costco are awesome.

 

[ATLien247]

Odd... I don't ever recall seeing a melon with the stem still attached. Well, not in the supermarket anyway.

 

[SirChadwick]

Originally posted by: Tylanner
all melons are disgusting

Except for beautiful human melons... c'mon now.

 

[lozina]

OK cool, I am afraid people will look at me funny like I'm trying to communicate with someone trappedm inside the watermelon but it would definitely be worth it if I can figure out how to get ripe ones more often than I am now.

What would you guys say is your track record of watermelons, what percent roughly are nice ripe ones opposed to "duds" ?

 

[lozina]

now with a 100% useless poll for pure excitement

 

[DnetMHZ]

Originally posted by: Tylanner
all melons are disgusting

<Connery> Not a fan of the ladies, are you Trebek? </Connery>

 

[BIGk]

mmmmmm...melons

 

[DrPizza]

typically, your choices at any grocery store are limited to a couple hundred watermellons all picked at the same time from the same field... there isn't that much variation in the degree of ripeness. But, yeah, I thump em too.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: Tylanner
all melons are disgusting

shens unless you like men.

 

[lozina]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
typically, your choices at any grocery store are limited to a couple hundred watermellons all picked at the same time from the same field... there isn't that much variation in the degree of ripeness. But, yeah, I thump em too.

but surely some of those melons are more developed than others right? They might pick some a little too early while others a little too late...

 

[SVT Cobra]

Originally posted by: lozina

Originally posted by: DrPizza
typically, your choices at any grocery store are limited to a couple hundred watermellons all picked at the same time from the same field... there isn't that much variation in the degree of ripeness. But, yeah, I thump em too.

but surely some of those melons are more developed than others right? They might pick some a little too early while others a little too late...

I have a 100% track record. After growing watermelons for many years, I can easily pick out the best on in the market.

 

[Squisher]

Vulcan Mind Meld

 

[fLum0x]

Originally posted by: lozina
So color of the skin has nothing to do with it? I used to look for the lighter colored ones than the dark green ones

well, i have heard from people on the food network that you look for a dark green color, but the most important part is the white spot (where the melon lays and grows outside the ground). The whiter this is, is how they detected how long it was on the ground and therefore how ripe it was. I have also heard scraping the surface with a finger nail and if you get some of the skin off of it, it is ripe. and finally, you put the melon between your hand and elbow with one hand and thump it with the other hand. if you feel a slight sloshiness on the underarm, you are good. anything else is bad. This one takes like...months of practice to do.