Watermelon ripe? How do you tell?

[Adron]

How do you know when a watermelon is ripe. I used to be able to tell at midnight on a moonless night, but the ability seems to have failed me in the last 30-40 years.

[Michael]

Thump it, should get king of a hollow sound. If it sounds solid, its not ripe.

[egon]

Just go back in time. All those old skills will return as the tower bell tolls in the Midnight hour.

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Bird]

Some use the "thump" test mentioned by michael, some just feel them; i.e., rub your hand over the surface. They should feel smooth and slick. At the vine, opposite the melon stem, is a small curly growth. It should be brown; i.e., dead.

[Pat]

I have been to the WATERMELLON FESTIVAL at Rush Springs Oklahoma, the watermellon capital. I have asked growers about the thump thing. Some say it works for them pretty well about 1/2 of the time and some say it is useless about 1/2 of the time.

I guess you pays your money and you takes your chances!

It was easy in the olden days of my childhood because the grocers would plug one so it could be tested. Most vendors, including buying off a pickup truck, offered guarantees. If you get it home and it isn't satisfactory you could get it replaced for free.

Draw no conclusions regarding my participation in any described activities but the way I recall it there was never a sweeter mellon than those harvested at night under thrreat of bacon rind and rock salt propelled by a 12 ga. Unless of course some unpracticed associate mistakenly takes a citron and when dashed on the road to burst it open it bounces higher than your head like a basket ball!

One of my friends just brought me two mellons, one light green round one and the other an alligator. They are in the basement refrigerator and will be examined for quality, flavor, sweetness etc this evening and for a few days.

Over ripe mellons that will taste poor will still pass the thump test with flying colors.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Bird]

Pat, I just checked on the Watermelon Festival on the Internet a few days ago. I keep thinking we ought to go to Rush Springs for that again since the last time I went was probably 1955 or 56. And that was when we were living in Marlow and the newspaper ran a front page story, first saying to not steal watermelons, but if you do to be sure you pulled it off the vine because they said some farmers were pulling watermelons off the vine, injecting them with poison, then leaving them for the coyotes.

As for harvesting at night under threat of a 12 gauge, my Dad said when he was a teenager one of the farmers in the area put a cot in the middle of his watermelon patch and slept on it with a shotgun laying on the ground beside him. Dad said one night on a dare, he crawled all the way across that patch in the middle of the night after the farmer was asleep, picked up the shotgun, fired both barrels in the air, dropped the shotgun, and ran from there as fast as he could run. He said the farmer never slept in the field again.

[egon]

Bird, could one assume that as you were groing up your father was always one step ahead of your shenanigans? [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Bird]

Egon, isn't that the case with all parents? They (or we) are afraid the kids might do some of the same things we did as kids. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

[Adron]

Let's hope the young'uns are asleep before we broach the subject of being worried that they will try to do the same things we did as kids. Times they are a changin'. BTW...Would you believe that 2 teenagers can carry 5 watermelons at 1 time on a Cushman motor scooter. That motor scooter today would probably be worth more than a truck load of watermelons.

Thanks for the input, I picked one today. I'll let you know.

[egon]

Uhh -- does one of those teens still fit on the Cushman and venture forth at night?

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]