I always love watching people pick watermelons. They gently bounce the fruit, pat it, look very intensely at it....It seems like everyone has their own method or secret for picking the very best one.
My dad was generally the one in our family who chose the watermelons, and I remember almost all of them being delicious. My sister and I came to think of him as some kind of...Watermelon Whisperer. I, too, wanted the magic touch! So recently one night (after eating some of yet another perfectly tasty watermelon), I asked him:
"How do you pick your watermelons, Dad?"
A good watermelon?
to pick a good watermelon you need to look for three things
"A good sound when you pat it!"
If you listen closely to that sound you can tell how juicy and thick the watermelon will be.
"The scars! The scratches! If a watermelon has some of these it will taste better"
Huh? Why?
Well, you see....
Animals can tell when a watermelon has a lot of sugar in it, so they're always clawing and trying to get into the sweetest melons. That leaves the scratches and scars.
Really?!?!
HAhahaha
No.
"You see those little black dots in the scars? Those are beads of sugar that have oozed out of the melon! You can tell that it will be sweet."
Now, the last thing you need to look for is the bu--...button...buh--...
...buh...
"The butt, Dad?"
Yes, the butt of the watermelon.
You see, right here?
The butt.
"When you push on the butt of the watermelon, you should feel some tension and it should bounce back a little. It will tell you how firm and juicy the watermelon is" heh heh
So:
"The butt!"
....Aaaand that's how I learned the three, completely unscientific secrets of good watermelon-picking. I haven't tested them myself, so I have yet to confirm their accuracy....but I'll be sure to let you know if I do!
