How to choose watermelon

Juicy watermelon is not only a great thirst quencher, there are also many health benefits from eating watermelon. Watermelon is a good source of many anti-oxidants like vitamin A and C as well as beta-carotene.

When watermelon is ripe, its edible part is bright red in color like the photo below, and this is when the edible "flesh" is sweet and very delicious. However, if it is not ripe, the inside of an unripe watermelon is white and not sweet. So how do one choose watermelon?

Photo of watermelon courtesy of Keith McDuffee

This is the way to choose watermelon. Hold the watermelon in one hand, and with hand, give the watermelon a tap (like giving the watermelon a good slap). The watermelon that gives a bright vibrating sound is the ripe one you should choose with bright red and sweet edible "flesh". If tapping the watermelon resulted in a dull thud, that watermelon is not ripe and will have white or very light red "flesh" and will not be sweet. Let me try to describe the sound again. The sound should be a "theng" like vibrating or bouncing as compared to a dull dead "thub".

Here is a video of a man choosing a watermelon. It is almost the same way as I do it, except that he used his knuckles to tap the watermelon while listening to the sound while I use my 4 fingers giving the watermelon a slap.



Below is another video from J. Costilla. Costilla hits the watermelon the same way as I do when choosing watermelon except he calls the sound to look out for a "deep heavy thump while I describe the sound to look out for as "vibrating". J. Costilla also use other criteria like weight and color plus guarding against soft spot.



Transcript:

Hi everybody, my name is J and I'm talking to you on behalf of Expert Village. I'm going to show you how to pick a watermelon.

As you can see first of all watermelon when you pick it up is very heavy. Why is it very heavy? Because they're 92% water, so they should be very heavy for their size. If you pick it up and it's is not very heavy for its size, don't buy it.

Another thing you can do is hit it with your hand. There needs to be a nice deep thick sound, called thumping.

Another thing you want to look for is this creamy yellow spot, this means that the watermelon has been sitting for a while and its been ripening. If you see no yellow creamy spots like this one has, don't buy it, trust me.

You can store your watermelon outside of your refrigerator and it will be good. Once you cut it, I recommend storing it inside your refrigerator. You don't want to see any type of bruising also, if you see any type of bruising or scars or really, really soft spots cause it should be firm all the way around, don't buy it.

So you want to look for the yellow spot, it needs to be heavy, it needs to have a good thump, nice and deep and you will have yourself a good watermelon. thank you.