How to Pick a Ripe Watermelon

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Updated: 3/26/19

Can you think of anything more refreshing than the sweet, juicy taste of a watermelon on a summer day? You may think that choosing a great watermelon is up to chance, but there are actually several ways to spot the perfect watermelon so follow these tips and take the guess work out of your selection!

1. Field Spot When viewing watermelons, the first thing that sticks out are those weird white spots. However, these spots (called field spots)are quite natural. The field spot is the area where the watermelon rested on the ground. While every watermelon has a field spot, the best watermelons have creamy-yellow or even orange-yellow spots. Go for the gold.

2. Webbing The webbing of a watermelon indicates the amount of times that bees touched the flower. The more pollination, the sweeter the watermelon is.

3. Boy or Girl? You may have not known this, but watermelons have genders. The ‘boy’ watermelons, are taller and more elongated, while the “girl” watermelons are more round and stout. The boy watermelons are more watery, while the girl watermelons are sweeter.

4. Size Our common sense tells us that bigger is better. So we may think that we should get our money’s worth and get the biggest watermelon we can haul onto our carts, but in reality, the best watermelons are average-sized. Don’t go for too small or too big, but just right. Size matters.

5. Tail The tail of a watermelon indicates its ripeness. A green tail indicates that it was picked too soon and will not taste as good. Go for the watermelons that have dried tails for the best taste.