At the grocery store, I see people knock on watermelons trying to pick the best one. But how good is the sound test? Some say a ripe watermelon will produce a hollow sound, while a “thick” or “solid” sound indicates a watermelon that’s not ripe or too ripe. Others say a hollow or “tight” sound is bad, and your watermelon should instead sound “firm.” Still others say a ripe watermelon should produce a B-flat sound. (What?!)
Here’s the real deal on picking the sweetest Watermelon:
1. Color: it’s skin should be dark green. Make sure it has a prominent creamy yellow spot also. This is where it sat on the ground ripening. No spot = premature pick = not ripe.
2. Look for “webbing”. This is the brown, course web looking materiel. This is caused when bees pollinate the flower and scar the membranes that later forms the fruit. The more pollination = more webbing = sweeter fruit.
3. Look for black hard globs seeping out. This is sugar not insects or rotting.
4. The weight: the melon has high water content, therefore, it should be heavy relative to it’s size. If it seems too light for its size, then it might not be juicy enough.
Follow the above rules, you are sure to get a sweet juicy one. But if you still insist on getting its attention by knocking on it, be sure you have a good ear and be a good listener.