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Watermelons are considered one of the most beneficial foods for the body. They are low-calorie, consist of a large amount of water and contain vitamins. But do not forget about the harm that fruits with a high content of nitrates can cause, which they are able to accumulate in themselves.
How to choose the right watermelon
Nitrates are minerals used in agriculture. They are obtained by the action of nitric acid on oxides, salts, and metals. Nitrates are highly soluble in water. The main use of nitrates can be called plant fertilizer. As you know, there are no products without nitrates. All plants contain nitrates. However, a large amount of them can be toxic and dangerous to humans.
By themselves, nitrates do not carry any particular danger, but when they enter the gastrointestinal tract, they turn into nitrites (salts of nitric acid), which are very toxic to the body and lead to oxygen starvation of tissues.
Nitrates, when ingested, can reduce the amount of vitamins in the food that enters the body, as well as lead to problems with the thyroid gland. Exceeding your daily intake of nitrates can lead to indigestion with blue skin, difficulty breathing and diarrhea, and other unpleasant signs of food poisoning.
Most often, the presence of nitrates in watermelons is checked in the laboratory, but there are special signs by which you can determine the presence of nitrates yourself at home. This article will tell you how to check watermelon for nitrates with simple methods.
It is worth noting that the quality of a watermelon must begin to be determined even before it is purchased. In order to protect yourself when buying it, you should pay attention to some important signs. First, buy watermelons only in specialized places and markets that comply with all hygienic and sanitary standards for food storage. Sellers must have special permits to sell.
Fruits should be neatly laid out and stored in clean containers on special trays. Watermelons should never be stored on the floor to avoid contact with dirt. You should not take risks and buy a cracked, broken or wrinkled fruit. A ripe watermelon that has grown naturally has a dry tip and will ring when tapped. It is not recommended to eat the fruit if, when examining its cut, the surface has a slightly purple tint.
Pay attention to the season and don’t buy watermelons too early. A smart buyer always knows when to refrain from buying. Nitrate fruits are most often sold until mid-July. If you have been buying watermelon since mid-August and September, you can not worry about the presence of harmful substances in fruits.
Many sellers are happy to give their customers the opportunity to taste a piece before buying. In supermarkets, for demonstration, they cut the fruit in half and wrap it in a thin cling film, through which you can easily see all the flaws. However, only visually it is impossible to determine that watermelons are nitrate-free.
Most accurately, a watermelon can be checked using a special device – a nitrate meter. However, this device is expensive. Folk signs, by which you can determine the amount of nitrates, are also quite effective.
Video “Checking watermelon for nitrates”
Validation rules
There are several methods for testing watermelons for nitrate content at home. For example, if you drop a watermelon into a container and it floats, this means that the fruit is of high quality. If you lowered a watermelon into a bath, for example, and it went to the bottom, this will indicate a high content of nitrates in it.
If you find whitish and yellow streaks in the pulp of a watermelon, this also indicates nitrates. There is another proven folk method with which you can check the fruits at home. To do this, you only need a small amount of water.
It is worth cutting off a small piece of pulp, crumbling it and lowering it into a small container of water for fifteen minutes. If the watermelon is safe, the water should just turn a little cloudy and take on a pale pink hue. But if the water turns bright pink or red with a touch of purple, this will indicate a high content of nitrate pollution. It is better to get rid of such a watermelon and in no case eat it.
Do not forget also about the rules for the use of watermelons. This fruit is a complete independent dish that should be consumed separately from the rest of the food. It is recommended to eat it 2 hours before the main meal or after 2 hours after it. This is due to the fact that you can not slightly overload the stomach by combining watermelon with other food.
Before eating the watermelon, take a few minutes to thoroughly wash it under running water. Nitrates in fruits and vegetables are unevenly distributed. Do not forget that the largest amount of nitrates accumulates in their peel. Do not eat away the pulp to the very crust.
What to make sure
It also does not hurt to verify the safety of the products sold by familiarizing yourself with the documents that guarantee their quality and compliance with all standards. The surface of a quality fruit should not be grainy, not perfectly smooth. The granular structure of the pulp indicates the naturalness of the product. However, you should also not buy too grainy watermelon, as it may be overripe. When cutting, pay attention to the fibers. In quality fruits, they should be white. Yellowish fibers can most often indicate a high nitrate content.
Ask where the watermelon came from. The color of most fruits is pink, and only a few northern varieties have a bright red color. Such specimens, as a rule, are not huge. Therefore, if you have a ten-kilogram fruit with red pulp in front of you, then most likely it is stuffed with nitrates.
Video “Check melons for nitrates”
It is often believed that a huge amount of nitrates can be found in melons. To check on the spot whether this is so, we bring to your attention this technique described in the video.
