Four Things to Look For When Picking a Watermelon

Watermelon season is upon us in Central Minnesota. There will be picnics, BBQ's, cookouts of all kinds. Not to mention kids needing healthy snacks while running from activity to activity.

One of my favorite summertime treats is a big bowl of fresh watermelon. It's light, juicy, and cools you off fast. But I never know how to tell if the one I pick will be ripe or not.

Here are four things to look for to get the perfect watermelon every time!

1. Webbing

Those weird brown lines that some have, those are good. They don't look perfect, but it means that they were heavily pollinated by bees. The more they touched it, the more webbing, the sweeter the fruit!

2. Field Spot

The yellow/white spot (or butt) is where the melon sat on the ground. Ripe melons spots are yellow-almost-orange. Not white!

3. Shape

Long and oval = watery. Round = sweet.

4. Stem

If the 'tail' or stem is still on the melon use it to indicate its ripeness! A dried tail means it is ripe, a green one means it was probably picked too early.

Good luck melon picking! Save some for me!