Hurray, wait: the watermelon season has begun. There is only one concern left: how to choose a berry that is ripe, sweet and safe. How to do this, experts tell Wday.ru.
There are eight main criteria by which to choose watermelons: color, size, weight, condition of the tail, side spot, condition of the crust, sound when splashing and the “floor” of the watermelon.
Under natural conditions, watermelons ripen in August. Take special care in the off-season watermelon trade, as the fruit can be grown using chemical fertilizers.
On a healthy watermelon, there is always a clear alternation of light and dark stripes. The more sun and nutrients the fruit receives, the more intense the color of the stripes.
Both too small and too large watermelons should alert you. Too large fruit could be the result of “unnatural” fertilization. The normal weight of a watermelon should be between 5 and 7 kg.
If the watermelon was grown using nitrates, harmful substances enter the human body and turn into nitrites, which are very dangerous to health.
Watermelons with tails are more reliable, since the approximate age of the fetus can be determined by the tail. The dry tail indicates that the watermelon was removed from the melon for a long time. The tail should not be too dry. A wet green tail indicates the immaturity of the berry.
The side spot is located where the watermelon touches the ground. That is, the presence of a spot confirms that the watermelon is ripe on the melon. The stain should never be white. It should be dark orange or dark yellow.
Check the rind: a good watermelon has a hard rind. You cannot pierce such a crust with your fingernail. Fruit is overripe if the rind is moist and brown.
Hear the sound that the watermelon makes from the slap. Place the fruit on your left palm, ricochet with your right palm from below and then from above. A ripe fruit resonates well because there are small voids inside it.
To determine the “gender” of a watermelon, study its shape. Girls’ watermelons are tastier, they are more round in shape. From below they are wide and flat. “Male” fruits are usually oblong, with a narrow and convex bottom.
Bring the watermelon to your ear and squeeze it harder. It’s good if the fruit starts to crackle. But if you know for sure that the watermelon was traveling from afar, crackling is bad. After a long journey, unimportant fruits begin to crack.
Never buy watermelons along highways. The watermelon rind is actively breathing, and hazardous substances from car exhaust enter the fruit. Often entrepreneurs who have not passed or have not passed a sanitary inspection trade along the roads.
It is just as dangerous to acquire cut fruit. If you so want to make sure that the watermelon is ripe, then you risk getting poisoned. Through the incision, bacteria enter the pulp, which begin to multiply actively in a sweet, humid environment. A good uncut watermelon can keep in the refrigerator for 14 days, while a cut watermelon can last for three or four days.
Also, avoid cracked, wrinkled, and scratched fruit.
If watermelons are sold on the street, the site must be equipped accordingly: an awning, a protective shield, a flooring at a height of at least 20 cm from the ground. And no closer than 5 km to the highway. And, of course, sellers are obliged at your first request to show their documents and documents that allow them to trade.
When you wash the purchased watermelon, which must be done, immerse it in a bathtub of water. Ripe watermelons do not sink in water, while green ones sink. As the watermelon grows and ripens, its density decreases. Therefore, it is better to purchase a medium weight watermelon.
Dip a small piece of pulp into a glass of water and rub it. When the watermelon is good, the water becomes cloudy. And if the water turns red or pink, then this watermelon is not worth eating: this means that it is full of nitrates or dyes.
White is the natural color of watermelon fibers running from the middle to the rind, unnatural yellow fibers. The yellow lumps in the pulp are nitrate deposits. The pulp, which has a bright red color with a tinge of purple, is also a danger sign. Fruit with nitrates has white seeds, healthy fruit has brown seeds.
When you cut the watermelon, look at the nature of the cut. It should be granular, if the cut is smooth, then the watermelon is not good.