How to Choose a Ripe Watermelon

Nothing says summer like watermelon juice dripping down your chin. I love watermelon, like most of you I imagine. It’s sweet. It’s juicy. I love it so much that I cut it in half and eat it with a spoon! (Which is really kind of perfect because when you finish, you can drink the juice—just like cereal milk from a green, rindy bowl.)

But the only thing that isn’t great about watermelon is when you lug home that 5-pound+ dead weight, and end up with a DUD that isn’t sweet. That is simply not the delicious kind of summertime memory that I’m trying to build.

So, here are a few tips on how to pick a winner!

1. Choose a melon with a bright yellow spot, the “field spot.” This means it got a lot of sun and was ripe when picked.

2. A dry stem. Also means it was ripe when picked! A green stem means the melon was picked too early.

3. Uniform in size-whether round or oval. Irregular bumps indicate inconsistent sunlight or water.

4. Heavy for its size—means more water, which means more juiciness and more filling to eat!

5. Webbed lines and spots on the yellow spot. These are pollination points and where the sugar has seeped out. The best best sign for a sweet sweet watermelon! 

Happy Watermelon choosing!