Usually when we enter the bleak grey month of January, I begin counting the months until watermelon season. As a kid I could eat a whole watermelon in one day…pure watermelon joy! At family gatherings nothing was better than ice cold watermelon and seed spitting competitions with my cousins, of course Greg almost always won. He was also the master at sending me out for snipe hunts, telling me what nice loving pets they made if I caught one. All I had to do was stand in the meadow with a brown paper bag and call, “Here snipe, snipe, here snipe.” I believed him and invested some time walking around the meadow with my bag calling for my future pet.
With the season upon us, I see people at the store doing a lot of watermelon thumping. Here are three easy tips for How to Select Sweet Watermelons, and one of them is the most important tip of all.
The Three Tips
- The weight should be heavy indicating there is a large water content.
- Look for a beautiful deep green color with variations of softer greens.
- MOST IMPORTANT is the creamy yellow under spot. Not white. Not pale yellow. Creamy yellow indicates it baked in the sun and should have a wonderful sweetness. The watermelon in the photo is a perfect example, a sweet treasure found at Whole Foods a few days ago.
Of course, there is nothing better than a simple slice of cold melon. However, if you want to take it up a notch, cube some cold melon, toss with fresh squeezed lime juice and sea salt…serve…eat.
Oh yea ! My favorite thanks for sharing!
Excellent! Thank you Phebe! Now I know right way to select and serve a great watermelon!
Hi Sweet Philip,
Thank you so much for leaving this comment. It’s fun to know how to find the perfect watermelon!
~~ Phebe
Thumping is very important too! It should have a deep baritone ring, from the water content. The higher sounding thumps, or those that don’t have a resounding deep ring, are not fully ripe inside. Enjoy!!
Hi John,
Thanks for sharing this. Henry (in the comment above) and I were just talking about this very topic. I love it that you gave it clarity. I hope you will be having very cold watermelon slices in Santa Fe this weekend.
Love you,
~~P
What a great memory! Takes me back to my childhood on my grandparents farm….where the days seemed to last forever and the watermelons were always the perfect mid day treat! I used to be a thumper….now no more..thanks for the tip!
( I never really knew what I was thumping for..lol)
Hi Henry,
I know, right?!? I never did either. One of my chef professors always said it’s the weight (representing water content) and look for the creamy yellow spot (baked in the sun to perfection). Childhood, in our times, always had watermelon. I don’t think I ever saw my Phillips cousins in the summertime that watermelon wasn’t a part of the day!
Love, love to you and Jeff,
~~Phebe
PS. My cousin John just left a comment that thumping has a purpose…read below.