There are many old wives tales about how to tell if a melon is ripe. The only one I have total confidence in is that cantaloupes should no longer be green under that webbed upper rind surface, should smell like cantaloupes, and not be at all mushy.
When it comes to watermelons, I try to go by looks, as I never figured out what thumping noise is desirable. Winter is not the best time for watermelons, but my kids love the miniature ones, and I thought I had a winner a few days ago.
That is, until I picked it up off the counter later that same morning. Now, I have heard of thumping, and tapping, and smelling… but did you know sometimes it might be a good idea to shake a melon? Okay, maybe it’s not a good idea, but I highly recommend no one buys the ones that slosh.
Our seemingly perfect melon sloshed. At first I thought, “Well, I’ll give it a chance.” Then I thought, “I do not want to return a watermelon. I’m going to take photos so I can show the store and get a new melon without taking anything back.”
It was a decidedly BAD melon. Now, I can be a bit picky about texture with melons—unable to tolerate anything under or overripe. Once I brought a bunch of cantaloupe to the park to share with friends, and Carter’s buddy Luke didn’t like it. His mom chided him, saying, “It’s good!” I tasted it, and agreed with Luke. YUCK! So yeah, I can be a wee bit picky.
I’ll leave it to a vote. Does this look like I was being picky?
So far, so good!
Hmmmm…..
Oh my. I have never seen such a thing! The fruit looked like raw fish or maybe ceviche. Blech. I know you’re on the edge of your seat worrying about our melon situation, so you’ll be mightily relieved to know our next melon was perfect. And I didn’t even shake it. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment