When you’re picking watermelon off the vine, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, don’t pick the watermelon until it’s fully ripe. Ripe watermelons will have a darker green skin and darker red flesh, and they will also have a stronger smell and taste.
Second, if you’re looking for a beautiful presentation, hold the stem end of your watermelon rather than its bottom end. This way, when you cut it open, you’ll be able to cut across the top of the fruit rather than cutting along its length.
Third, if possible, try to wait until 2-3 days after your watermelon has been picked before eating it—this will allow it to ripen more evenly throughout its entire surface area.
With so many varieties of watermelon, you’re bound to find one that suits your tastes and preferences. But how do you know when to pick a watermelon off the vine? That’s the question we’re here to help answer.
It’s important to pick your watermelon when it’s perfectly ripe (which means it should feel soft and squishy when you squeeze it). If you wait too long, your melon will become harder and start to bruise easily. You’ll also have a tough time getting rid of any blemishes on its surface—and those are what make watermelons so beautiful.
There are few things as delicious and refreshing as a big slice of watermelon on a hot summer day. However, you can’t just grab any watermelon from the vine, or from your grocery store’s produce section, and expect it to be sweet and juicy. It takes a bit more effort to find the perfect melon that’s ready to eat. Fortunately, there are some simple tricks you can use to tell how ripe your watermelon is before you start serving up slices at your next summertime barbecue.
Check The Color
If you want to check the ripeness of a watermelon, pick up the fruit and examine it for color. When it’s ripe, the melon will be a light yellow with no green tint. If it’s a dark yellow with no orange or red tint yet, then you’re in good shape.
Look At The Tendril
The best way to know if a watermelon is ripe is to look at its tendril. This yellowish-green piece of the vine connects the fruit to the plant and indicates how much watermelon has ripened. This means that if you see a lot of green on your tendril, it means that there isn’t much going on with the fruit in terms of ripening. If you see a lot of yellow, however, this suggests that things are moving along nicely.
Go By Its Sound
When you think of picking a watermelon, you probably picture a giant scarlet orb sitting in the middle of your family’s picnic table. And while there are plenty of ways to judge a watermelon’s ripeness based on its appearance—you can look at the underside and determine if it’s starting to turn orange, or check for firmness by squeezing it halfway through with your thumb and forefinger—the best way is still by sound.
The best way to pick out a good melon is by listening for sounds that indicate that it has reached optimal ripeness. First, give each fruit an initial tap: if it sounds hollow or resonant, then proceed with caution; if not, move on to another option. Next, this step would be checking its underside: turning over each fruit individually will reveal whether any bits of green (or even mold) remain attached after cutting off both ends; this may mean less work later during preparation time but could also mean less tasty results overall.
Skip The Thumping
If you’re still unsure of whether or not the watermelon is ripe, don’t use the thumping method. While it may seem like an obvious way to know if a watermelon is ripe, thumping can damage other fruits on the vine and make them rot more quickly. Additionally, this process can bruise or split the skin of your fruit—and nobody wants that.
If you’ve hit a wall in your search for let-it-rip melons and are struggling to figure out what’s going on with your vine, try these tricks instead:
- Look at their eyes (or lack thereof). The seeds should be greenish-brown in color; they’ll look like tiny dots inside each fruit as long as there aren’t any holes in its rind. If there’s just one seed per fruit or if none of them look normal yet, give it another week before picking off those bad boys from their vines. You want two or three per piece so that when it comes time to slice them open later on down track (or tomorrow morning), they won’t be too hard to cut through with just one knife stroke through multiple slices together–an important step when dealing with soft fruits like these ones here.
You can pick a watermelon at the right time by watching the tendril where it connects to the vine.
The best way to know when a watermelon is ready to be picked is by observing the tendril where it connects to the vine. If you see one or more of these signs, your watermelon may be ready to be harvested:
- The tendril should be green, not brown.
- The tendril should be dry and not sticky, wilted or limp (insects could have been feeding there).
Final words,
When buying from a farmer’s market, you can ask the farmer for help in picking a watermelon. You can also look out for telltale signs like the color of the watermelon and its weight. If you are still unsure about which melon to buy, there are other ways to test your melons.