This chilled tomato soup is extra refreshing thanks to the addition of juicy watermelon. The easiest way to know if a watermelon is ripe is by checking the curly Q or tendril to determine if it is completely ripe and ready for harvest in the vegetable garden. Watermelon’s sweetness is tempered by an all-star cast of supporting players in Ina's salad: peppery arugula, salty feta and bright fresh mint leaves. However, you can have some tricks to know for the ripeness of the watermelon and then you will be in a better position to decide that the watermelon should be consumed or it has to be discarded. There are few foods that scream “summer!” louder than a slice of juicy watermelon. I bought a couple of squash plants in the beginning of the season. This article has been viewed 5,092 times. Old-timers swear that they know when a watermelon is ripe just by rapping it with a knuckle. Add these recipes to your daily g(rind) this summer. Friends, it is never simple to know when a melon is ripe. Becky 07/20/2019 at 7:46 am This would be great to use at the grocery store if it truly works. Look for the spot. Bake Hamentaschen for Purim (Even If You're Not... How to Grill Using the Two-Zone Heat Method. In a ripe melon, the bottom of the fruit, where it sits on the ground, turns from light green to a yellowish color. It all adds up to a refreshing and satisfying 5-star summer dish. ©2013, Television Food Network, G.P. An unripe watermelon will have more of … A ripe watermelon should smell slightly sweet, but not too sweet as that could indicate it’s overripe. “[Farmers] keep track of when the watermelons were planted and if it’s an 80-day variety, they might go out there on day 70 or day 75.”. If you keep a record of when you planted the watermelon, you should be able to calculate when the fruit are starting to become mature and getting ready to harvest. All rights reserved. There are a lot of different factors which will determine how long it takes for your melons to ripen, but it should be somewhere between 2 to 4 months. Learn to choose a ripe melon and cut perfect cubes, wedges and sticks safely and easily. 1. Once harvested, watermelon can be stored uncut for around 10 days, but they won't ripen any further in this time. Augostini recommends keeping these three tips in mind for selecting a watermelon that’s guaranteed to be ripe, juicy and sweet. If the sound is low-pitched, hollow, and deep like a drum it is ready. Summer is watermelon season, and just as there’s nothing like biting into a perfectly juicy, sweet slice, there’s no disappointment like finding it tasteless and mushy. Giada's colorful skewers are like summer-salad-on-a-stick. But with a little experience and a lot of attention, it is a joy to grow these sumptuous fruits and the challenge makes them that much sweeter :) Calvin, call us. If you really can’t stand to see another ad again, then please consider supporting our work with a contribution to wikiHow. We know ads can be annoying, but they’re what allow us to make all of wikiHow available for free. Flower Dragon Watermelon picked on September 18 ranged in size from 700 grams to just over 3 kg. However, whether you are buying a watermelon or picking it from your own patch, you should be able to tell when a watermelon is ripe and when it is still unripe.If you look at many watermelons heaped up, it is impossible to tell which one is ripe and which one is not. While knowing how to grow your own watermelons is its own task, your efforts might go unrewarded if you don't know when to pick them. A watermelon should respond to the proper touch in a couple of key ways when ripe. This cut fruit is the smallest (see pen) and it is still ripe inside even … A ripe watermelon will have a hollow sound when knocked, which sounds more like a "plunk" than a "thwack." You know, that feeling when you expect sweetness but instead get a ho-hum mouthful of watery, ho-hum nothingness. Let the watermelon grow for 2-4 months. A watermelon should feel heavy for its size. There's no summertime treat that quite matches the fresh sweetness of a watermelon picked from your own garden. If it’s still white, that means it’s “fresh,” or not ripe, and if it’s yellow, it’s over-ripe. jersey6. A dried tail indicates that the watermelon is ripe. Watermelon is the quintessential fruit of summer, and biting into a juicy wedge is one of the season's greatest pleasures. When you pick up the watermelon to feel its weight, give it a shake as well. If you’ve ever stared down a display of the giant green orbs at your local farmers' market or checked the status of one in the garden, you know how daunting it can be to know when one has reached peak ripeness. How to tell if a watermelon is ripe. That way you can always keep track of exactly when your watermelons will be ready. Look at the curly tendrils on the vine close to the watermelon. If the whole vine starts to turn brown while there are still watermelons left on it, harvest them immediately. Ask around or check online to find out what the perfect melon should sound like. On The Vine Because of its size, it fits well in the refrigerator, hence the name. If the sound is more high pitched, then the watermelon is not ripe yet. If it’s still white, that means it’s “fresh,” or not ripe, and if it’s yellow, it’s over-ripe. These are the signs that watermelon is ripe and ready to be consumed and on the other hand, overripe watermelon loses its flavor and it gets deteriorated. The watermelon should have some give in it when you squeeze it, and you should look for a round watermelon. Write the date you planted your seeds on the seed packet and store it in a safe place. As for the thump test? % of people told us that this article helped them. An icebox watermelon -- like all watermelons --is best harvested when ripe… Reply. You can still see green streaks in the yellow field, a sure sign that the watermelon is not ripe. There are many varieties of watermelons, but they fall into three broad categories which are determined by how long they take to grow and mature: early (65-days), mid-season (80-days) and full-season (90-days). The easiest way to tell when one is ripe is to find the little “pigtail” sprout that occurs on the vine just opposite of where a melon is attached. © 2020 Discovery or its subsidiaries and affiliates. Ripe Melon Tip #2 – Check the Little Curling Tendril Located Where the Watermelon Stem Joins the Main Vine Right where the stem to your melon joins the main vine, there should be a little curling tendril or curly cue of vine. If you're growing a lot of watermelons, this test might become less effective. Deciding when to harvest a melon is most difficult early in the season when vines are green and healthy, but picking the perfect watermelon can easily be done with a little bit of experience. Even on a solid-green watermelon, the overall hue will lighten up a few shades as it ripens. The pale yellow place on the rind is primarily the first indicator to tell you if your watermelon is ripe and ready to be sliced open. Watermelon ripeness can also be determined by checking the pale spot on the underside where they rest on the ground. If the weather is cloudy or rainy and cool, more than 85 days may be needed. Most are ripe about 32 days after blooming and … Food Stylist: Maggie Ruggeiro Prop Stylist: Paige Hicks, Photo by: Con Poulos Maybe someone can help me out. If it’s a striped watermelon variety, both the dark and light green stripes will get lighter as the melon ripens. According to the N.C. Department of Agriculture, farmers look for the “pig tail” as a tell-tale sign that the melon is mature. When he visits packing houses, workers who perform the thump test on melons on the same surface, day in and day out, are more likely to be able to discern if it’s ripe. Shake It. All Rights Reserved. “Basically, when you plant the seed, it’ll have a gauge from seeding to harvesting,” explains Nick Augostini, who focuses on watermelons as part of his role as N.C. Department of Agriculture’s assistant director of marketing. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. It’s healthy, easy to make, and best of all, there’s no stovetop required. Crimson Sweet watermelon plants need approximately 85 days of warm growing conditions to be productive in the vegetable garden. Prop Stylist: Marina Malchin 917 751 2855. If not, it means the rind is too thick. If things are moving around inside, it could be overripe. Watermelons are sold whole, halved, quartered, and cubed. Another sign that a watermelon is ripe that the ground spot—the part of the melon resting on the ground—turns from bright white to yellow. However, there’s a surprising secret for how to tell if watermelon is ripe.. Next time you head to the market on the hunt for the very best melon, don’t grab the first one you find. This ground spot is not fully yellow. Watermelon mature rapidly during hot weather. But knowing when they are ready to pick from the vine or how to buy the best one can be a bit of a head-scratcher. Last Updated: April 5, 2020 Unlike watermelon, many cantaloupe are fragrant by the stem as well as blossom end when ripe. Once cut, the slices can be tightly wrapped and kept for 4 days. References. The blossom end of the watermelon is opposite the stem end, if the melon is ripe it will have some give when you press on it with your thumb. Calvin Harris Is, Like, Really Into Watermelon, 7 Juicy Watermelon Recipes to Help You Kick Off August. If this spot is white, it’s not ripe. It’s hard to imagine getting good at this unless you had a whole bunch to test and confirm! This indicates that the vine is dying, and the watermelons are as ripe as they'll ever be. 10 years ago. Look at the seed packet for the watermelons you're planting for an approximation of how long it'll take for them to ripen. Resist the urge to lift it up and shake it, and instead, search the rind for the ground spot (aka the area where the melon touched the ground as it grew). It became readily available to consumers in 2005. When is Watermelon ripe. When a watermelon is ripe, you'll see a patch of white or yellow rind on its underside. They absorb the sunshine that is turned into the sugar that makes a watermelon sweet. Use your phone or another device to record the sound of a melon you think is ripe. Here are six tips on how to select a watermelon that’s perfectly ripe. Icebox watermelon is a small variety of watermelon that typically weighs between 8 and 10 pounds. It's much more difficult to pick out the smell of 1 watermelon from a field of them than it would be testing one on its own. There are 10 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. You want to gently knock on the watermelon, like you are knocking on a door, and listen. Use a sharp knife to cut the watermelon from the vine, staying as close the fruit as you can. Here are tips for picking and buying watermelon straight from the pros who grow them, plus some of our favorite sweet and savory summer watermelon recipes. In an immature watermelon, these curly tendrils are lush and green, while on a mature watermelon, the tendrils are … It’s a natural match for tortilla chips but try it atop grilled fish or tucked into tacos, too. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/c\/c8\/Tell-when-a-Watermelon-Is-Ripe-and-Ready-for-Picking-Step-1-Version-2.jpg\/v4-460px-Tell-when-a-Watermelon-Is-Ripe-and-Ready-for-Picking-Step-1-Version-2.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/c\/c8\/Tell-when-a-Watermelon-Is-Ripe-and-Ready-for-Picking-Step-1-Version-2.jpg\/aid994638-v4-728px-Tell-when-a-Watermelon-Is-Ripe-and-Ready-for-Picking-Step-1-Version-2.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":"728","bigHeight":"546","licensing":"