Hi,
Could someone tell me how to pick a ripe and sweet watermelon?
thanks
How to Pick Ripe and Sweet Watermelon?
ATTS on 30/01/2017 - 16:14
Comments
yes i mean whole ones.
i want to know too.
while we are in the melon topic, here is one tool i find quite interesting.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Stainless-Steel-Watermelon-Slicer…
I saw a vid of that in action, looks like it could waste a lot of liquid though.
Knock it, like a door. if it sounds hollow, and the end bit where it would have been attached to the stalk is brownish, it should be fully ripe, given a good year, it should also be sweet.
you basically put your ear close to the melon and slap it. it should go bop bop..if it goes bup bup instead of bop bop then it is gonaa be hollow inside. you should pick a solid one. hold onto it and wait a week.
lol. I like your bop bop and bup bup description…
I don't think there are guaranteed ways of doing it, but you can try my method which works well for me.
- Press down on the outside of the watermelon using one of your fingers. If it is not firm, avoid.
- Hold up a few watermelons one at a time, just to judge how heavy each watermelon is given its size. This is more of a judgement call, since larger watermelons tend to weigh more. The trick is to pick the proportionately heavier watermelon, as juicy watermelons tend to be heavier.
- Look at the bald yellow spot on the watermelon skin, a small bald spot means that it has been sitting on the ground for not a very long time, so might have a larger white section compared to the red section inside. You will want to pick one that has a largish bald spot, but not too big.
Good luck.
An unripe watermelon feels lighter than a ripe one for its size, when they are unripe they are very dense. I have picked watermelons as a fruitpicker, and my daddy sold them by the roadside when he was young, he taught me. The yellow bit is caused more by damp conditions.
Thanks for the info. I have had a lot of dried out watermelons before I arrived at this method and it works for me. :)
If it ain't broke .. I realized I got it mixed up but can't edit - a ripe one is lighter than an unripe one., because denseness. Really I need a deal on keyboard and mouse - mech board and multifunction mouse!
I would also like to know. I bought a cut 1/4 watermelon at woolies yesterday, ate some today and at the top of each slice it has a very strange flavour. A little bit like vinegar? and it was a bit soft. So weird and horrible. It looked really nice in appearance, so I don't know what is wrong with it. They seem to be a bit hit and miss these days.
LPT: never buy cut watermelon, they sell cut products for a reason, because they cut the bad bit off more often than not.
I am not sure if they do this at the supermarkets, but I think a lot of fruit shops do this. Avoid cut veges/salads for the same reason too. :)
Lol not were we are pretty much cut watermelons and hole are the same one your buying but by the sounds of your one it might have been sitting there all morning or all day before you bought it but then again might of been a vineger spill near bye while cutting
There is a woolies saying if it's not fresh it's free if your not happy bring it back and get a full refund :)
I avoid cut watermelon from buffets, fruit cups etc. I was told by several chefs they will not eat it as it, along with rude, is an inherently dangerous commodity due to some properties that cause it to grow bacteria. I have eaten sautéed watermelon and watermelon and feta salad on Royal Caribbean as I had never had the first and am a sucker for the later.
Rice is also inherently dangerous 24 hours after cooking, even if frozen. I avoid fried rice, particularly in third world countries as they will not throw away rice just because it's a couple dats old. Fried noodles are safer.
Interesting… I've eaten day old rice for years.
More than 24 hours. Apparently there us a type if bacteria that grows on rice and it becomes unsafe to eat after 24 hours. Odds are you won't get sick, but after 1.5 years of cooking school, I won't eat rice that's not fresh, watermelon not cut by myself and most leaves as most have zero nutritional value and may not have been washed properly.
I see people eating grapes cherries or blueberries at the shops and think, how crazy are you? How crazy are you to allow you kid to eat the unwashed fruit free at woolies if it doesn't have a peel? How many people have touched that? Would you lick someone's hands, because that's what you are doing. Yuck. No thanks.
Not sure if you are referring to the chemicals on the fruit, or the bacteria. As for bacteria, we are equipped with the tools (sense of smell, sight) that will generally point us in the right direction most of the time. With an interconnected world of keyboards, cash, transport etc etc a piece of fruit (that has it's own defence system in the form of acid is not a huge risk). Should the said fruit be washed in contaminated water in a less developed nation, then I would give it a miss, but I wouldn't bother getting around in a full Hazmat suit in Australia just yet.
Back to the rice / watermelon… a nice moisture rich medium that bacteria like Bacillus Cereus can grow on. Yes it can cause food poisoning after a few hours if left out in tropical Queensland and you are 80 years old or under 3 and are a bit frail. Most of us will put that left over rice straight in the fridge and 24hrs later (assume under 5 deg C) it will be just fine for 99% of the population. 2 days, your nose will tell you (vinegar smell maybe, should be ok). Day 3 probably getting a green tinge in the rice, give it a miss. If you did eat it, for 99% schedule in an interesting dump some time that day, but the world will keep spinning. As for frozen rice, I've eaten rice a couple of months down the track. Did I get sick, no. Not even a rogue dump…but frozen rice has a terrible split texture, so for that alone I wouldn't freeze it.
The world is getting a bit soft really. I often think when in Thailand, Bali etc why is it that we are so worried about what we eat, yet the locals will happily eat that old fish on a stick from the side of the road. I don't think they are some kind of super human, they have just got used to it from exposure, and probably don't see an 'interesting dump' as a huge life issue. Funny thing is, we will happily sit in traffic sucking the exhaust fumes from the car in front, using that mobile or remote that has been everywhere downing that sugar free soft drink loaded with chemicals we can't pronounce..but we can't eat 24hr rice?
Oh, as for picking a watermelon. All as above regarding noises etc, but if two sound the same, I always go for the darker green of the two.
Reheated rice is okay. After it's cooled you need to refrigerate it as soon as possible. You can also minimise the heating duration, so once cooked you should switch off the rice cooker and open the lid to speed up the cooling process. Also don't put hot food in the fridge.
The toxin is only generated from bacteria at the incubation temperature range (5-60 ºC) so as long as you minimise the exposure duration you're fine.
http://www.abc.net.au/health/talkinghealth/factbuster/storie…
Slap it! If it doesn't have a loud thump noise, it is no good.
big yellow spot (especially for the non-whole ones) means that the side of the watermelon was touching the ground, and the gravity would make the sweet juices flow to that end :)
Watermelons are blue inside until you cut them.
Not surprised, it's the same for blood.
Just my 2 cents, but as someone who works in fruit and veg within a supermarket, those of you who pick the quarters as a safer bet… its not really a safe bet, id easily say that half the time, the perfect looking watermelons that are a great colour aren't always sweet. During the summer i cut anywhere from 5-30 watermelons in a day, and sample here and there. Just because it looks good doesn't mean it tastes good. On finding a good whole one I've got no clue, and no one that I've worked with has either. I have worked there for nearly 3 years and have found no full-proof way of telling. Just hope for the best I guess.
Hi I'm working at Woolworths till Uni and am quite food savvy in regards to fruit having elected to study Agriculture.
I recently helped many shoppers at Woolworths buy their watermelon for home.
I will endeavour to help explain this to you step by step
The colour is not an issue, you are looking for sweet enough insides, although by recommending a hollow-sounding watermelon, they want you to have both sweet and juicy watermelon
Here is nutritional information, hope it helpful for you:
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 127 kJ (30 kcal)
Carbohydrates
7.55 g
Sugars 6.2 g
Dietary fiber 0.4 g
Fat
0.15 g
Protein
0.61 g
Vitamins
Vitamin A equiv.
beta-carotene
(4%) 28 μg
(3%) 303 μg
Thiamine (B1) (3%) 0.033 mg
Riboflavin (B2) (2%) 0.021 mg
Niacin (B3) (1%) 0.178 mg
Pantothenic acid (B5) (4%) 0.221 mg
Vitamin B6 (3%) 0.045 mg
Choline (1%) 4.1 mg
Vitamin C (10%) 8.1 mg
Minerals
Calcium (1%) 7 mg
Iron (2%) 0.24 mg
Magnesium (3%) 10 mg
Manganese (2%) 0.038 mg
Phosphorus (2%) 11 mg
Potassium (2%) 112 mg
Sodium (0%) 1 mg
Zinc (1%) 0.1 mg
Other constituents
Water 91.45 g
Lycopene 4532 µgEverything else is pretty standard but I would recommend a 'Carolina Cross' they produced the current world record for heaviest watermelon
I recently helped many shoppers at Woolworths buy their watermelon for home.
If you gibberished like the above to the shoppers, then no, you didn't.
Woosh
right you buy the melon and when you get home with it you cut a 3cm triangle and taste the melon and if it not to your liking you take it back to the store you purchased it from and get your money back if they do not want to give you a refund you just have to raise your voice a bit louder so other shoppers hear you and you will receive your refund
So YOU personally must live next door to Woolies and just keep doing multiple trips until you get a watermelon "to your liking"? Why not whip out of pocket knife and cut right there and then?
Hey that would make carrying a knife a legitimate excuse !
do you mean whole ones? if so, I'm all ears too.
I typically buy 1/4's and halves staying away from the whitish ones.