Check watermelon for degree of ripeness
It's that time of year when we spend a good bit of time enjoying the outdoors, although this year so far has been uncomfortably hot and dry for most folks in this region of the country.
So maybe we are spending a little less time in the great outdoors than usual.
That doesn't change the fact that a lot of us really relish splitting open a cold, ripe watermelon and enjoying its cool sweetness.
So what if we get the juice all over our face and even allow some of it to run down our arms as we hold a piece up to our mouth.
Big deal!
Of course, there are also those who favor the "Emily Post" mode and very carefully consume the tasty morsels of watermelon flesh with a knife, fork or spoon in such a way that none of the juice escapes to "contaminate" some part of the body or the clothes being worn.
Do they really get as much out of the watermelon "experience" as those who simply dig in and enjoy eating this seasonal fruit with no worries about the consequences of their eating style?
Some area residents have probably already been eating watermelons for several weeks, thanks to the varieties now being grown in warmer regions where ripening occurs well before local melons are ready for the market.
But when you are ready to buy a watermelon, regardless of its source, be it in a supermarket, roadside stand or off of a truck parked by the side of the road, we tend to be a bit hesitant in making our selection for fear that it will not be ripe or sweet or of good texture.
How do you decide which one to buy? After all, to most people nearly all watermelons look about the same except perhaps for shape and size. Oh, yes.
Some are of a solid green color while others are green striped.
So how can you tell the difference between a truly ripe melon, one that is not fully ripe and one that is over-ripe?
It's important that you be able to distinguish between these different degrees of ripeness because it makes a big difference in both flavor and texture.
None of the methods we use to determine ripeness are foolproof or 100 percent accurate, but with experience in using one of the following suggestions, most of the time you will wind up with a melon that offers that cool delicious sweetness that will please the palate.
uThe "Thump" method: Listen carefully as you thump the middle of the melon.
If the sound you hear is dull and flat, the melon is probably ripe, or toward the end of the season may even be over-ripe.
When Is A Watermelon Ripe - News
That doesn't change the fact that a lot of us really relish splitting open a cold, ripe watermelon and enjoying its cool sweetness. So what if we get the juice all over our face and even allow some of it to run down our arms as we hold a piece up to
The biggest key factor in picking out a watermelon is by thumping on it or give it a good knock, When you thump or knock the side of a ripe watermelon you want to hear for the most hollow. Give it a good listen and the one that will have an echo to it
Josh White says the heat has made things rough on his watermelon crop too, "I've had to put a lot of money in irrigation, I've had to water twice a week," he said. The weather has forced farmers to harvest their crops early, and has cut his yields
If you see people tapping on a watermelon like a bongo drum, Gallo says, that's a technique for testing how ripe the popular summer fruit really is. “If the bottom is a lighter color than the rest of the watermelon, and you hear a hollow sound with a
According to folklore, the way to tell if a watermelon is ripe is by "thumping." Tradition says that if thumping produces a metallic ringing, the melon is immature. Supposedly when a ripe melon is thumped, it produces a soft, hollow sound.
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When Is A Watermelon Ripe - Bookshelf
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