When to pick a watermelon. I don’t know about you, but I feel like this is what everyone is asking or searching come July and August. I’m sure you’ve heard all sorts of differing information on the topic. In the this post, I’m only addressing picking large watermelons. Watermelons that grow 20+ pounds. Varieties like Jubilee, Rattlesnake, Florida Giant, and Charleston Gray.
Watermelons. Man oh man do I love them. When they’re perfectly ripe, overflowing with juice that drips down your chin with each bite, and that perfect freshness. No one wants an underripe, light pink watermelon and they also don’t want an overripe, grainy watermelon.
You’ve probably heard about the thump method, waiting for the first tendril to be dry, the belly to be yellow, the light green needs to be 2 inches wide and so on and so forth.
Now folks will tell you that the thump method is an old wives tale and you need to go off the first tendril closest to the stem of the watermelon drying. Well if you have experienced extreme heat of the south and decide to use that method, you’ll be picking Jubilee watermelons the size of your hand instead of the thirty pound melons you should be picking.
I’m here to tell you the thump method works. The best watermelons we’ve had are picked using the thump method in conjunction with the yellow belly. However in our experience, a watermelon won’t have the right thump without having the yellow belly first.
What is the thump method you ask? The thump method is picking the watermelon based off the sound it makes when you thump or knock it with your knuckle. This is something you should start doing with underripe melons so you can clearly hear the difference. An underripe melon will have a solid sound, like smacking a solid door. A ripe melon will begin to get a hollow sound. It will sound like it’s not as solid anymore, almost like there’s space in the melon to knock around.
You’ll also notice at this time that the skin of the melon will go from very smooth to a bit textured. It’ll start to have a grainy feel to the exterior.
Once you notice all these signs, pick it! Don’t leave it for a few days, it will get overripe before you know it.
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