My old man's first job was at Reeve's Produce down in Ludlow. Among other things, he was the "tree hand" around Christmas time, and he worked on the produce truck that they used to idle up and down the streets of Ludlow with to sell fruit and vegetables. As a result, all 4 of his kids have at the very least two things that we've had passed down from him: an insistence on real Christmas trees in our living rooms, and the know-how to pick out ripe produce.

 

Swamprat was right about thumping on it. A good hollow sound is produced when the watermelon is nice an full of water (seeing as they are like 95% water). It's like rapping on the side of a full milk jug, versus rapping on the side of one that's only 2/3 full. They'll both make sound, but one makes a much more definite resonant and hollow sound because the liquid inside transfers the sound waves nice and evenly throughout the container - be it milk jug, or watermelon rind. That being said, the heavier the watermelon, the better. A nice ripe watermelon has as much water in it as possible...and is thereby nice and heavy.

 

Also check the spot on the underside - where the watermelon was sitting on the ground - to see if it is white, green, or yellow. White or green mean it isn't fully ripened yet. You want yellow.

 

Last, the green of the rind should be as dark as possible. Watermelons get darker the longer they sit on the vine.

 

Very helpful! I always wondered about the coloring

This may be stupid to ask, but how on earth is a seedless watermelon made, since there are no seeds (or very few)

This may be stupid to ask, but how on earth is a seedless watermelon made, since there are no seeds (or very few)

 

One of my friends' fathers has a horticulture degree, is a vegetarian, and is resultantly a very avid vegetable gardener. I asked him about seedless fruits several years back. He said some are grown from buds off of other plants, some are grown from cuttings/grafts, and some are just grown as a sterile (seedless) hybrid of two other parent versions of the vegetable.

 

I just looked up watermelons specifically, and they are grown via the hybrid version...so you pollinate one specific type of watermelon plant with the pollen from another specific type of watermelon plant, and you end up with a plant that produces no seeds. It's kinda like a mule: it's a cross between a male donkey and a female horse, and about 95% of the time they are sterile. Thereby, they generally can't reproduce themselves, but you can always produce another by mating another donkey and horse again.

Picked out a REALLY nice watermelon last night at the grocery out of one of the big boxes they have sitting out on pallets. It's cut up and sitting in the bottom of the fridge getting nice and cold for tomorrow. It's super sweet.

 

I went for one of the watermelons with seeds. I'm yet to have a seedless watermelon that tastes as good as the ones with seeds.

Picked out a REALLY nice watermelon last night at the grocery out of one of the big boxes they have sitting out on pallets. It's cut up and sitting in the bottom of the fridge getting nice and cold for tomorrow. It's super sweet.

 

I went for one of the watermelons with seeds. I'm yet to have a seedless watermelon that tastes as good as the ones with seeds.

 

I agree, the watermelons with the seeds taste better. But I always sacrifice the taste for convenience.

 

I hate cutting watermelon though. My favorite was always pineapple but I wouldn't buy them because I hate cutting them also. Then, I bought a pineapple corer and it changed my life. I wish they had something like that for watermelon.

I agree, the watermelons with the seeds taste better. But I always sacrifice the taste for convenience.

 

I hate cutting watermelon though. My favorite was always pineapple but I wouldn't buy them because I hate cutting them also. Then, I bought a pineapple corer and it changed my life. I wish they had something like that for watermelon.

 

Someone gave my wife a pineapple with one of those corers as a house warming gift...those things are worth their weight in gold, if you like pineapple. We've actually got a good bit of fresh pineapple in the fridge right now too, because the Kroger by our house had whole pineapples on sale last Friday for 99 cents a pop.

 

I've seen a couple of gadgets for cutting watermelons floating around, including one that looks like those apple corer/cutter things, but I figure they're all pretty useless compared to a big kitchen knife. I cut my watermelons this way:

 

Haha, THE greatest advancement? Man...that's a bold statement.

 

I would have to put the seedless grape, and the honeycrisp apple in there to

compete with the seedless watermelon for that prized honor.

 

We interrupt this Watermelon thread for a comment on CWB's apple declaration.

 

I don't know whether you can get them up there, but Envy apples make Honey Crisps taste sour. The only place I've seen Envys is Publix and they don't stay in the produce section long.

 

Now cut a hole in an ice cold watermelon, fill it with vodka, and have a wonderful 4th.

We interrupt this Watermelon thread for a comment on CWB's apple declaration.

 

I don't know whether you can get them up there, but Envy apples make Honey Crisps taste sour. The only place I've seen Envys is Publix and they don't stay in the produce section long.

 

Now cut a hole in an ice cold watermelon, fill it with vodka, and have a wonderful 4th.

 

Envy apples are a whole lot more difficult to find because they're a relatively new apple. They were patented in 2009, whereas the Honeycrisp (which still isn't as plentiful as others) was patented back in 1988. I had one once at a farmers market near Chicago. I'm a total geek for apples, by the way. It's about impossible for me to pass up trying new ones I've not had before. I prefer apples that are a little more tart though, so I'd take a Honeycrisp over an Envy. I love Granny Smiths too. My favorite, though, is the Suncrisp...which is a lot like a Honeycrisp, but a little more tart.

 

1) Suncrisp

2) Honeycrisp

3) Empire

4) Granny Smith

5) Arkansas Black

Love Watermelon, but it's gotta be ice cold. I never like cantaloupe growing up, but over the years, I've gradually learned to accept them. Honeydew, however, I just absolutely love. It too has to be ice cold though for max enjoyment. The problem with Honeydew, is picking out good ones when buying. I usually get a few that aren't quite ready yet, and because of that, I don't buy as often as I'd like.

 

My dad used to grow all of these successfully while I was growing up. I however, have only had luck growing cantaloupe since moving to KY.