The best way to Choose a Excellent Watermelon Each Time

I introduced residence what I believed was the right watermelon for a July cookout. It appeared darkish and shiny, felt heavy, and sounded hole after I knocked on it. After I lower into it an hour earlier than everybody arrived, the flesh was pale pink, grainy, and bland sufficient that I ended up folding the entire thing right into a coleslaw simply to make it usable. I had checked the mistaken issues, and I didn’t know why.

How do you decide a superbly ripe watermelon?

The quick reply: Roll the melon over and examine the sector spot, the pale patch the place it rested on the bottom. A big, creamy yellow to golden discipline spot is the only most dependable signal of ripeness. Pair that with a melon that feels heavy for its measurement, has a uninteresting slightly than shiny rind, and a dry brown stem if one is hooked up. The sound take a look at and the viral two-finger stripe rule may help, however college extension researchers take into account them secondary checks at finest, not the primary occasion.

This information is a part of our food storage guide, the place we cowl tips on how to purchase, retailer, and hold produce recent utilizing major agricultural and meals security sources as an alternative of guesswork. In case you are stocking up for a cookout, our information to foods that last longer than you think is a helpful companion.

Why Watermelon Ripeness Truly Issues

The Actual Indicators of Ripeness

1. The Discipline Spot

As a watermelon grows, it rests in a single spot on the bottom, and that contact space develops right into a pale or creamy patch whereas the remainder of the rind darkens within the solar. Roll the melon over and search for a big, creamy yellow or golden yellow spot. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension describes this as the only finest indicator in need of slicing the fruit open: the larger and creamier the spot, the longer the melon ripened on the vine. A pale white or barely seen spot means it was picked early.

2. Weight for Its Measurement

Watermelon is roughly 92% water, so a ripe, juicy melon feels noticeably heavier than an underripe one of many identical measurement. Choose up two or three similar-size melons and select the heaviest.

3. The Sound Take a look at, With an Trustworthy Caveat

Thumping a watermelon and listening for a deep, resonant sound is essentially the most broadly identified take a look at, and it exhibits up in extension reality sheets from the College of Georgia and the College of Missouri. However the sources genuinely disagree on what a “good” sound is. Some describe a deep hole thump because the signal of ripeness, others describe a deep, uninteresting, non-hollow sound as perfect and deal with “hole” as an indication of overripeness. College of Missouri Extension addresses this immediately, noting the sound take a look at is the least reliable indicator of the group and must be used alongside the sector spot and weight, not as an alternative of them.

4. Rind Texture and Shade

A ripe watermelon has a uninteresting, matte rind slightly than a shiny one. College of Missouri Extension and Texas A&M AgriLife each flag a shiny floor as an indication the fruit was harvested earlier than it was prepared. In case you are rising your individual, College of Maryland Extension additionally notes the tendril nearest the fruit stem must be brown and dried, not inexperienced, at harvest.

Sugar Spots, Webbing, and When to Stroll Away

Watermelons generally develop small brown or black speckling, or a web-like brown scarring, on the rind. That is generally reported as a constructive signal tied to sugar and pollination exercise, although it has much less formal analysis backing than the sector spot, so deal with it as a bonus examine slightly than a major one. What’s effectively documented, and value really avoiding, are the marks beneath.

Two Watermelon Myths

Fable 1: Male Watermelons Are Elongated, Feminine Watermelons Are Spherical

This doesn’t maintain up biologically. Watermelon crops produce separate female and male flowers for pollination, and the Nationwide Watermelon Promotion Board notes that bees pollinate the big yellow feminine flowers to set fruit, however the fruit itself has no intercourse. Form variation comes all the way down to selection, rising situations, and pollination success, not any male or feminine trait of the melon.

Fable 2: Seeded Watermelons Are All the time Sweeter

Seedless watermelons are triploid, that means they carry three units of chromosomes as an alternative of the same old two, which is why Penn State Extension notes their manufacturing has equaled or surpassed seeded varieties in business rising. That genetic distinction explains why the fruit has no viable seeds, however it isn’t proof that triploid melons are inherently sweeter. Sweetness in both kind relies upon much more on selection, rising situations, and the way mature the melon was when it was picked than on whether or not it has seeds.

As soon as You Get It Residence

As soon as lower, meals security guidelines take over from ripening science. The CDC and FDA each suggest refrigerating lower, peeled, or cooked fruit inside two hours (inside one hour if it has been sitting someplace above 90°F, like an outside cookout), as a result of lower produce sits in the identical temperature hazard zone as another perishable meals. Wrap the lower floor tightly or retailer it in a lined container at 40°F or beneath.

Type	Greatest Storage	Shelf Life
Complete, uncut	Room temperature, round 70°F	As much as 2 weeks, finest nutrient retention
Complete, uncut, cool storage	Round 55°F if accessible	14 to 21 days
Complete, refrigerated	40 to 41°F	Beneath every week earlier than chilling damage units in
Reduce, refrigerated	40°F or beneath, lined	3 to 4 days
Reduce, neglected	Room temperature	2 hours max, 1 hour above 90°F
Frozen, diced	Hermetic freezer container	A number of months, finest for smoothies and purees

In case you are working by way of different cookout produce on the identical time, our guides as to whether tomatoes go bad, whether or not avocados go bad, and whether or not coleslaw goes bad cowl the identical primary-source method for the remainder of the unfold.

Continuously Requested Questions

Are you able to ripen a watermelon at residence after selecting it?
No. Watermelon is non-climacteric, so it stops creating sugar the second it’s lower from the vine. An underripe melon stays underripe irrespective of how lengthy it sits out.

Ought to an entire watermelon be refrigerated?
Not for storage. USDA Agricultural Analysis Service testing discovered complete melons held at room temperature gained extra lycopene and beta-carotene over two weeks than melons held at fridge temperature, which as an alternative confirmed early indicators of chilling damage. Chill it for just a few hours earlier than serving if you’d like it chilly, then transfer any leftover lower items to the fridge.

How lengthy does lower watermelon final within the fridge?
About 3 to 4 days when lined tightly and stored at 40°F or beneath. Get it into the fridge inside two hours of slicing, or inside one hour if it has been sitting someplace above 90°F.

What’s the single most dependable option to examine ripeness with out slicing the melon?
The sector spot. A big, creamy yellow to golden patch the place the melon rested on the bottom is the indicator with the strongest backing throughout agricultural extension sources, extra constant than the sound take a look at or the stripe-width trick.

Is the thump or knock take a look at really dependable?
It’s the most well-liked take a look at, however not essentially the most reliable one. College of Missouri Extension particularly describes it because the least reliable indicator among the many frequent checks, partly as a result of sources disagree on whether or not a hole sound or a deep uninteresting sound alerts ripeness. Use it to again up the sector spot and weight examine, not by itself.

Does the two-finger stripe rule actually work?
It’s a broadly shared tip from farmers and grocery workers, and the underlying logic (stripes widen because the melon matures) is cheap, nevertheless it has not been formally validated by college horticultural analysis the best way the sector spot has. Deal with it as a enjoyable secondary examine.

Are seedless watermelons much less candy than seeded ones?
No. Seedless watermelons are triploid, that means they’ve an additional set of chromosomes, which is why they can’t kind regular seeds. That could be a genetic quirk, not a sweetness penalty. Sweetness relies upon way more on selection and the way ripe the melon was at harvest than on whether or not it has seeds.

Is the female and male watermelon form fantasy true?
No. Watermelon fruit doesn’t have a intercourse. Form variations come from selection, pollination, and rising situations. The parable seemingly grew out of confusion with the plant’s separate female and male flowers, which do have totally different shapes.

What do the darkish scars and webbing on a watermelon rind imply?
Brown webbing and small darkish speckling are generally reported as indicators of a candy melon, tied to pollination exercise, although this has much less formal analysis behind it than the sector spot. What you do need to reject: irregular white or pale scarring (rindworm injury), round ring patterns (viral an infection), and any comfortable, mushy, or visibly moldy patches, all of which level to actual spoilage or pest injury.

What’s the easiest way to chop a watermelon safely?
Rinse the surface of the rind below working water and scrub it with a clear produce brush earlier than slicing, because the FDA notes a knife can drag floor micro organism into the flesh. Use a clear, sharp knife and refrigerate any lower items inside two hours.

Are you able to freeze watermelon?
Sure, although it’s best reserved for smoothies, purees, or infused water slightly than consuming recent, since freezing breaks down the crisp texture. Cube the flesh, take away the seeds, freeze it in a single layer, then switch it to an hermetic freezer container.

Does the blossom finish scar measurement predict sweetness?
There isn’t a good proof that it does. Social media has lately popularized the concept a smaller blossom finish scar, the small round mark reverse the stem, means the melon developed extra evenly and will probably be sweeter. It’s a plausible-sounding concept, and a few longtime gardeners swear by it, nevertheless it has not been validated by college horticultural analysis any greater than the two-finger stripe rule has. Some growers as an alternative use the blossom finish to examine ripeness slightly than sweetness, urgent gently to really feel for a slight give, although even that’s extra folks methodology than confirmed take a look at. Deal with it the identical manner you’d another viral produce hack: tremendous as a tiebreaker, not one thing to depend on by itself.

What if I lower open a watermelon and it seems bland?
You possibly can nonetheless use it. Mix it into a calming soup, freeze the cubes for smoothies, or fold it right into a savory salad or coleslaw, the place the flavour hole issues much less as soon as it’s mixed with different elements.

Additional Studying

Planning the remainder of the unfold: burger recipes, classic meatloaf, bbq shrimp tacos, gluten free crab cakes, a Greek meze board, strawberry jalapeno salsa, carrot ginger dressing, and a banana cream protein shake spherical out a summer time desk alongside a great watermelon.

For the remainder of your produce drawer, see whether or not onions go bad, whether or not garlic goes bad, whether or not potatoes go bad, or whether or not coconut milk goes bad, plus the companion refrigeration posts on whether or not onions, garlic, potatoes, avocados, tomatoes, and sauerkraut want refrigeration, together with freezing garlic and sun-dried tomatoes going bad.