It’s Watermelon time!
Summertime is watermelon time for most, but I can literally eat it any time of the year or day!
When I grew up, we lived on a small farm where my dad grew watermelons among other things. Of course we had to help tending and harvesting the plants. As a kid, it was so much fun to pick melons, but more so to eat them right there in the field. Sweet watermelon heaven!
I don’t know what it is, but watermelon is the one fruit, that can boost my mood and energy like nothing else. When others ate pickles during pregnancy, my food was this giant fruit. Till today my husband often surprises me with watermelons. He knows how to pick them, unlike me who often came home with duds that were either too ripe, young or not sweet at all. But I don’t care, still tasted good to me.
One time we were at Sam’s Club, picking out a melon when this lady walks by, saying that she had a trick to always pick sweet ones. So I asked her to share the tip. Then I saw this article listing tips for the best watermelons I wanted to share with you.
Watermelon picking tips
- Seems impossible when they all seem to look alike, but try to pick the (almost) perfect melon in terms of form
- Pick it up and compare to similar ones; heavier melons contain more water and are generally riper
- Look at the yellow spot (this was the tip of the lady in Sam’s), which indicates where it sat in the field. Yellower means riper.
- Knock the melon to hear if it has a deep sound (my husband’s technique, which never works for me)
Although I briefly was a farmer’s daughter, I never learned these tricks from Dad because there was no need. All the melons he grew were sweet! I even used to think that the yellow spot was caused by the sun, LOL. Now that I know what it indicates I’m happily sharing these tricks. The last melon I picked was perfectly sweet and I enjoyed every bite!
Things to do with watermelon
I like my fruit as natural as possible, meaning: just slice and eat, never ever bored eating it plain. But some people are very creative using watermelons in beverages and food. If you are one of those, here are a few recipes you may like. (some of them made me gasp!)
Beverages:
Watermelon cooler to chill out
Watermelon punch for kids
Watermelon Mojito for adults
Food:
Watermelon salad
Watermelon steak
Watermelon sorbet
…and… Icing on the watermelon cake!
Best tip for cutting watermelon.
I used to ask my son Dean to cut the melon, but now I know how to do it too. Stick some toothpicks in the parts and you have fresh watermelon pops!
Looking at all these recipes made me want to be more adventurous, so who knows…
Share your best recipes below in the comments, I’d like to know what other watermelon fans like.
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