Hello everyone! I hope this post finds you all well. I went to Jay Wagler’s a few days ago since he grew a lot of watermelons as part of his business. We talked and laughed about the many ways people have to tell if watermelons are ripe. He laughed when I told him, “Yeah, but none of them work for ‘Black Diamond’. He said one of his neighbors grew ‘Black Diamond’ last year and he said they were really tough. He wasn’t sure, but he thought maybe he didn’t even get a ripe one. Then he gave me the way he used to tell if a watermelon is really ripe…
Making videos is kind of new for me so sometimes I forget what I intend to say. When he said to press down on the top of the watermelon, I asked him what if you press too hard. He got a laugh out of that but it is kind of like the scratch test. How hard do you scratch? The older a melon is the harder you have to scratch it, but it still leaves a mark. So, how hard do you press on a watermelon? Well, here’s the thing I forgot to mention since I had already found out the watermelon was ripe on Friday morning. This video was taken Friday evening and it didn’t make a sound then because it already did it that morning… The first two melons I pressed down on didn’t make a sound but the third one did. It didn’t hardly take any pressure at all. In fact, I was very surprised that I barely had to press down on it. I pushed harder on one because it didn’t make a sound, and when it did I think it was the inside of the rind that split instead of the flesh inside.
If you have grown watermelons before you may know I exaggerated somewhat when I sampled the melon and said how good it was. Truthfully, when you pick a watermelon and it has been in the hot sun all day it doesn’t taste all that great. That’s why when watermelon growers pick melons they let them sit in a cool place or in the shade so they will cool off. Once this watermelon was in the refrigerator overnight it was much sweeter.
‘Black Diamond’ is an heirloom variety with sweet pink flesh and is known for being called the king of the watermelons. At this moment I have to honestly say I have had much sweeter watermelons. This particular one weighed 26 pounds and I picked another one later that weighed 28. I gave half of this one to a friend and the bigger one to the neighbors across the street. The biggest one in the patch didn’t make a sound yet…
I made another video today to try and find one that would make the sound while recording. I walked around the entire patch pushing on melons and didn’t hear anything. It was very windy so maybe I just didn’t hear it. That would not be good because they may not do it the second time.
Linda, who has a blog titled “Life On A Colorado Farm”, said in a previous post’s comment how her grandfather taught her how to tell if a watermelon is ripe.“He taught me to hold the melon against my stomach and pat it. If the water sounds and feels like a rock skipping across a lake…the melon is good to eat!” Well, I couldn’t quite get that or even picture it in my head. So, I asked her a little more about it . She replied, “Pick up the melon, try not to tear the vine, hold the melon close to your body on your stomach. Pat the melon sharply several times. If you can feel the water in the melon moving through the melon like ripples then it is ready to eat.” SO, I tried that with one of the ripe melons after I had picked it and you can actually feel the water in the melon vibrating… So, I guess I need to try that with one on the vine that isn’t ripe to see what it does. She said he taught her that trick when she was 8 or 9 and she is still using it. Linda has a great blog about her and her husband’s life on their Colorado farm (obviously). Thanks for the tip, Linda!
That’s it for this post! Until next time, be safe, stay positive, stay well and GET DIRTY if you can.
The Belmont Rooster 
I love watermelon, my most favorite fruit of all. I’ve been buying the small ones but I find they don’t have any flavor, I’ve been doing the sun spot test to tell if they’re sweet, but I’m not sure if that really works because I haven’t found a sweet one yet. Last year I just gave up and stopped buying them because the flavor just wasn’t there. There may be a different test to do for the small ones without seeds. My mother knew how to pick them, we always had the sweetest watermelons, unfortunately she didn’t teach me her secret.
Well, I’m going to try the press on the watermelon way 🙂
And BTW your videos are looking great. I’m still learning LOL
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Hello Masha! Great to hear from you! Watermelons are my favorite fruit as well. I have heard by a few people the small icebox melons like Sugar Baby are pretty good. I have not bought any melons from the grocery stores for a long time because when I have in the past they just didn’t have much flavor. I would think the same tests apply to all watermelons. Give it a shot and let me know what happens. It seems a lot of secrets have been lost because we didn’t think to find them out. Glad you liked the videos. It takes getting used to and it is weird hearing my own voice. 🙂 You will get the hang of it and so will I. Take care and thanks for the comment!
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YAY! It worked for you! It works for me every time. Just like my Grandpa said it would. Keep up the excellent blog and like you say…it’s fun…go get dirty! 🙂
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Hello Linda! The push test worked but I will still work on your theory. 🙂 Believe me, I have no problems getting dirty and I am sure you don’t either! Take care and thanks for the comment!
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Dirty is the best way to be! 🙂
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🙂
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I wonder if I can try that in the store. Guess I’ll have to try pushing and hugging the melons next time. What about the thump test?
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Hello Jim! Give the push test a try in the store and see what happens. It is possible they have already been pushed on, though. 🙂 You don’t have to push very hard. Let me know if it works for you. I am still not sure about Linda’s method because I haven’t tried it on any that haven’t been ripe. I would think it takes practice. The thump test? As I mentioned in the last post, I have been thumping on watermelons since I was a kid. To me, they have to sound like a flat tire or your stomach when you have eaten way too much. Take care and thanks for the comment!
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Yay!
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Hello Laurie! It’s about time! Take care and thanks for the comment!
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Did you hear in the news that the fire in Yucaipa was started by some sort of pyrotechnic device associated with a gender reveal party?: I was trying to explain to a young gentleman at work that at about the time that he was born, the technology to reliably identify the gender of unborn babies was rather new, and that only about half of new parents chose to be informed of the gender of their babies prior to birth. I also explained that many parents prior to that time, particularly mothers, knew the genders of their babies prior to birth anyway. My Pa knew the genders of all five of his babies prior to birth. (The fourth and fifth were born after sonograms were standard procedure, and identified gender.) For those who lacked the instinctual intuition for such identification, there were all sorts of ways to identify gender, like observing the behavior of a pendulum swinging over the unborn baby. Anyway, it seems easier to identify the gender of an unborn baby than it is to determine if a watermelon is ripe.
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Hello Tony! Hmmm… I wonder if I could ask a pendulum if a watermelon is ripe? I have one somewhere… Take care and thanks fOr the comment!
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um . . . no. It might amuse the neighbors though.
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Well, the neighbors wouldn’t see. The old corn stalks block the view. 🙂
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Well, they were certainly stood up enough.
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LOL! At the moment, not so much. They are all dried up.
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How fascinating! I hate when we buy a watermelon and it’s not ripe. Thanks!
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Hello Diane! It is hard to beat a ripe one but very disappointing when one isn’t… Take care and thanks for the comment!
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