Picking The Perfect Summertime Watermelon: 5 Tips

For many, dewy-sweet watermelon is exactly how summer tastes, and it’s a staple on picnic tables around the Fourth of July. But there’s nothing more frustrating than sinking your teeth into a freshly cut slice and having the taste fall flat. So, what’s the secret to picking a perfect watermelon every time?

Some people swear by thumping the melon to determine how ripe it is, but that’s hardly foolproof. The hollow sound could mean it’s ripe, but it could also mean it’s too ripe. There are a few other general rules of thumb: the darker the color, the better the melon; medium-sized melons are better than large or small ones; and once a watermelon is picked, it is what it is and, unlike a tomato, won’t ripen more when you get it home.

But there’s a lot more to it than that. If you’re one of these people who blindly select melons from the bin at the market, here from folks who know about watermelons are five tips to guide your choices:

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1. Go heavy, or go home. Watermelons are 90 percent water, so the heavier they are, the sweeter and juicier they’ll be, according to Juicing For Health. What’s considered heavy? Pick up several watermelons of similar size and go with the heaviest one.

2. Bald is beautiful. Turn the watermelon over and inspect it. That creamy yellow spot show on the bottom, where the melon rested on the ground, may look unsightly, but it means the melon is ripe, according to the cooking website thekitchn.com. If it’s light green, the melon is not ripe enough, TV chef Rachael Ray says.

3. Poke it and prod it. The best watermelons don’t have soft spots, so give it a once-over for firmness.

4. Scratch (sniffing not necessary). Give the melon a little scratch with your fingernail. A greenish-white color just below the outer rind indicates the melon is ripe.

5. The seed-spitting debate. Seedless watermelons are frankenfood — that is, a genetically created hybrid, according to researchers at Penn State — and that may turn some people off. But they’re everywhere and hard to avoid. And if you’re not feeding a crowd, they may be the best choice Seedless watermelons last longer because they’re more dense and don’t have seeds inside that break down the flesh.