Watermelon just crossed my mind - How do YOU tell when it's ripe?

[grumpyoldman]

here in the middle of Feb. for some reason watermelon just crossed my mind, guess i'm looking forward to summer
whats your favorite way to tell when a watermelon is ripe ?
the thump method never worked for me , some people swear by it
the white spot was about a 40% accurate for me ( the white spot turns yellow )
what has worked about 90% of the time for me is the stem method , you look at where the vine was attached to the melon and if it has 0 dimple the melon is ripe
so how do you tell when its ripe ?

 

[thymeless]

I'm a thumper. You want a melonious thunk instead of a Thelonious Monk.

 

[caseydog]

For melons, my first rule is to buy at the peak of the season. I do the thump test, and that works pretty well.

CD

 

[dragnlaw]

you look at where the vine was attached to the melon

I do thumping as well but I also check were the vine was attached. If it looks older (hard to describe it) as in perhaps drier rather than really fresh. I have found they seem to be ripe.

Cantaloupe is almost the same but I press on that spot to see if it gives even just a tiny bit.

 

[msmofet]

I do thumping as well but I also check were the vine was attached. If it looks older (hard to describe it) as in perhaps drier rather than really fresh. I have found they seem to be ripe.

Cantaloupe is almost the same but I press on that spot to see if it gives even just a tiny bit.

Watermelon - I mostly go by the yellow spot.
I look for Cantaloupe that has white “net” not green, push on the vine end and smell it.

 

[grumpyoldman]

thumping never worked for me anyway but a couple of years ago they made me stop thumping them , there i was in the store just thumping away and an employee comes up and starts screaming at me , i told him that everyone thumps watermelons , then he screamed BUT NOT WITH A HAMMER

 

[jennyema]

I do thumping as well but I also check were the vine was attached. If it looks older (hard to describe it) as in perhaps drier rather than really fresh. I have found they seem to be ripe.

Cantaloupe is almost the same but I press on that spot to see if it gives even just a tiny bit.

Smell the place where the vine attached. It should smell like melon.

 

[grumpyoldman]

i saw a video about the "vine dimple " a few years ago and tried it and it worked about 90 % of the time , the theory is that when the melon stops growing the vine will be flush with the outside of the melon, thus no dimple. try it you might be surprised how well it works

 

[RavingLunatic]

I’m giving up growing watermelons, after my seeds are gone I’m going to grow just melons, last year my husband said they were the best. Maybe I don’t quite have the sun nor heat here in my back garden, the front yard has more sun.

 

[grumpyoldman]

we tried growing watermelons in our yard once , the elevation where we live is 6,700 ft. the melons grew BUT they never got bigger than a baseballs , i could hold 6-8 in my shirt tail

 

[RavingLunatic]

we tried growing watermelons in our yard once , the elevation where we live is 6,700 ft. the melons grew BUT they never got bigger than a baseballs , i could hold 6-8 in my shirt tail

Yeah that is my problem too, except for one year a watermelon grew out of our compost, it was big and very sweet. But I was away on vacation. My daughter who never liked watermelon before this picked it and she said she’s now a convert, she likes eating watermelon now. I think perhaps there’s a lot of goodness from the compost, watermelons are heavy feeder.

 

[dragnlaw]

Smell the place where the vine attached. It should smell like melon.

Yeah, I do smell it as well. But honestly I don't think I've ever smelled the fruit! I still do it anyhow,

 

[Jusa]

I'm a thumper. I absolutely love watermelon but I associate it with hot temperatures outside and not likely to buy it until July and August.

 

[dragnlaw]

It is the most refreshing thing to have when you're hot and ready to expire!
Coming back from walks with my dog it would be one for me, one for you, one for me, one for you etc, etc.

 

[caseydog]

I do thumping as well but I also check were the vine was attached. If it looks older (hard to describe it) as in perhaps drier rather than really fresh. I have found they seem to be ripe.

Cantaloupe is almost the same but I press on that spot to see if it gives even just a tiny bit.

For cantaloupe, I go by color and smell.

CD

 

[taxlady]

For lots of fruit, smell is the best test, IMHO.

 

[Lee Vining]

We’ve lost so much money on gambling on watermelon quality we plain stopped buying them.

 

[grumpyoldman]

Lee Vining@ i was almost the same way until i saw the video about how to look at the dimple ( or lack of one ) its been right about 90% of the time

 

[lastmanstanding]

I do thumping as well but I also check were the vine was attached. If it looks older (hard to describe it) as in perhaps drier rather than really fresh. I have found they seem to be ripe.

Cantaloupe is almost the same but I press on that spot to see if it gives even just a tiny bit.

Dead dry vine. That's the best way to tell. Coupled with thump.
It's very hot here these days. Yesterday I ate a large watermelon. The dark greenish blue type.
While eating it I was thinking whether I should make a video, of cutting a watermelon. After eating I realized it was just due to the extreme heat.

 

[taxlady]

Dead dry vine. That's the best way to tell. Coupled with thump.
It's very hot here these days. Yesterday I ate a large watermelon. The dark greenish blue type.
While eating it I was thinking whether I should make a video, of cutting a watermelon. After eating I realized it was just due to the extreme heat.

How much would you say that watermelon weighed? I cannot imagine anyone eating what is considered a very large watermelon by themself here, not counting watermelon eating contests.