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.

High pesticides food and substitutes

Organic fruits and vegetables may be a better alternative to conventionally grown ones, but they are expensive and not everyone can afford them as a regular fare. They are also not easily available. One may be forced by circumstances, financial or otherwise, to fall back on conventionally farmed fruits and vegetables.

However, not all fruits and vegetables are equal. Some when grown conventionally, fruits and vegetables are treated with more pesticides than others or may retain more of the pesticides. Here is a list of the top 10 foods containing the most pesticides, according to the Environmental Working Group:

High-pesticide food: Strawberries
Main nutrient: Vitamin C
Healthy alternatives: Blueberries, raspberries, oranges, grapefruit, kiwifruit, watermelon

High-pesticide food: Bell peppers
Main nutrient: Vitamin C
Healthy alternatives: Green peas, broccoli, romaine, lettuce

High-pesticide food: Spinach
Main nutrient: Vitamins A and C
Healthy alternatives: Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, asparagus

High-pesticide food: Cherries
Main nutrient: Vitamin C
Healthy alternatives: Oranges, blueberries, raspberries, kiwifruit, blackberries, grapefruit

High-pesticide food: Peaches
Main nutrient: Vitamins A and C
Healthy alternatives: Nectarines, watermelon, tangerines, oranges, grapefruit

High-pesticide food: Mexican cantaloupe
Main nutrient: Vitamins A and C
and potassium
Healthy alternatives: U.S. cantaloupe grown from May to December, watermelon

High-pesticide food: Celery
Main nutrient: Carotenoids
Healthy alternatives: Carrots, broccoli, radishes, romaine lettuce

High-pesticide food: Apples
Main nutrient: Vitamin C
Healthy alternatives: Watermelon, nectarines, bananas, tangerines

High-pesticide food: Apricots
Main nutrient: Vitamins A an C and potassium
Healthy alternatives: Nectarines, watermelon, oranges, tangerines

High-pesticide food: Green beans
Main nutrient: Potassium
Healthy alternatives: Green peas, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, potatoes, asparagus

Best and worst fruit, vegetable based on pesticide load

According to Environmental Working Group, the following are the 5 worst and 5 best vegetables and fruits to eat according to the pesticide load. Peaches are rated the worst because the pesticides are absorbed through the skin. Peaches are thus given a rating of 100% and the rest of the fruits and vegetables are given ratings in terms of percentage based on peaches as 100%. Apples is the second worst because apples were initially they are not grown in their natural environmental, have not developed natural resistance and thus treated with multiple pesticides. The best are onions and avocado rated at having only 1% of pesticides as compared with peaches.

5 worst fruits and vegetables

Peaches (worst)	100% (highest pesticide load)
Apples	96%
Sweet bell pepper	86%
Celery	85%
Nectarines	84%

5 best fruits and vegetables

Onions (best)	1% (lowest pesticide load)
Avocado	1%
Sweet corn (frozen)	2%
Pineapples	7%
Mango	7%

Read the whole list at The Full List: 43 Fruits & Veggies

Papaya, the wonder and cost effective fruit

I have long been a regular consumer of the papaya fruit. When I attended a talk organized for premium account holder of OCBC Bank (Oversea Chinese Banking Corporation Bank) by Dr. Lim Hua An, he started off with the exact quotation you see in this blog Header -"Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food". He divided his talk into 3 parts, Nutrition, Colon Cleansing and the third part I couldn't remember.

My confidence in him increased when to my question as to which is more important, he answered "nutrition". He said if you get your nutrition correct, the rest will automatically follow.

He also said one of he best fruit to eat is the humble papaya:



He confirmed what I had believed all along, that papaya contains lots of carotene and vitamin C. To me, on per weight basis, it is also one of the cheapest fruit I can buy and thus the most cost effective. I hope to edit this post later to write more about the virtues of the lowly papaya fruit. At the moment, I am in a hurry to use this post to demonstrate the use of an image to sign your post. I will post the link to the instructions later.