Watermelon ripeness test

We had lunch today with an old friend who brought a friend along with him. His friend's father used to grow commercial watermelons. We were discussing the ways to check to see if a watermelon is ripe, and he threw a new one at me I'd never heard before. He was adamant this works, even though I'll have to see it to believe it.

He said to pick up a wheat straw and place it lengthwise on top of the melon. If the melon is still green the straw will stay there. If the melon is ripe, the straw will turn crosswise of the melon. (Then he had to think a minute to make sure that was the correct order, and he said maybe you had to place it crosswise to begin with, and then it would turn lengthwise, but he was fairly certain it begins lengthwise.) But he said it absolutely works.

I can't wait until we get some ripe melons to test it on. I wonder if this would work on supermarket melons. :scratch:

I can't remember the last time I had wheat straw on me when picking up a watermelon.

My husband is a thumper, he has the touch, I don't.
I look for bee kisses and a yellow ground spot. Bee kisses work on organic but are absent from melons that have been sprayed. Yellow is usually absent on the little pearl melons. Usually I just ask the farmer to pick one for me. My guy will take the leftovers back and exchange it for a fresh melon if I don't like it.

Deborah….suddenly wondering which spins faster, a raw or boiled egg?

Lavender Debs wrote:
….suddenly wondering which spins faster, a raw or boiled egg?

Definitely boiled... doesn't have a loose yolk to slow it down.

That is an interesting way to test ripeness ander. I guess it would work on a similar principle as using a dowsing rod to find ground water. A ripe watermelon would have a lot of water in it. Let us know if it works.

What are bee kisses?

Aub wrote:What are bee kisses?

Brown scares on the skin of the watermelon. They look different thatn scratches. It is almost like rows of itty-bitty circles. They are actually supposed to be whole sections where bees have been trying to get to the sweet sugars in the fruit. Not sure if it is true or not. All I do know is that they sure seem to indicate sweet watermelon.

I prefer this brand of watermelon ripeness testing too ...... believe its called the "Sledgeomatic";




If you get more than a 10' debris ring, the melon is ripe

That's a good one, Acara.

In the grocery store, I am a thumper. But as knowing when to pick them goes.... I had no idea. So the watermelon variety I chose this year was one that supposedly changes color when the fruit is ripe. (I figured I needed all the help I could get!) I got a vine, and a couple of baby fruits, but no mature ones. Maybe next year.

It is nice eating watermellon off the face of the person sitting next to you. Good one!

Lavender Debs wrote:I can't remember the last time I had wheat straw on me when picking up a watermelon.

I'm a country girl, Deb. I just grab the one between my teeth.

I'd never heard of bee kisses, either. That's two new tricks this old dog learned this week.

Blackrose, I also wondered if this might work on the dowsing principle. If so, better make sure the melon isn't sitting on top of the irrigation line.

Acara, thanks. I needed that. I could almost taste the shrapnel from here.