The watermelon season begins in August and lasts until the end of September. Both juicy and ripe striped berries are popular with both adults and children, but in order to buy a really tasty and healthy fruit, you need to be able to choose it correctly. In addition to the risk of buying unripe berries, the probability of acquiring an overripe copy is not excluded. This article describes the signs of an over-ripe watermelon, the options for its use and the effect on the human body, and also lists tips for choosing a tasty and ripe product by external signs.

How to identify an overripe watermelon

When buying striped berries, you need to be careful, because you can accidentally acquire a ripe fruit whose flesh has already begun to deteriorate. Before buying, it is recommended to ask the seller for documents on the goods, which will indicate the date of harvest. But you can determine the overripe berry yourself if you know what such a fruit looks like.

Did you know? To provide an adult with a daily dose of vitamin C, it is enough to eat 4 medium-sized pieces of watermelon.

The fact that the watermelon is overripe is evidenced by such signs:

• too light fruit - if the watermelon is medium in size, but weighs very little, this may mean that its flesh has already deteriorated and has become very soft;
• sale of striped berries after the end of the season - a ripe fruit crop is harvested from the second half of August to September, so in October it is very difficult to avoid buying an overripe specimen;
• characteristic sour smell - it is most clearly felt if you rub the skin with a fingernail;
• dark brown stain on peel - indicates that the watermelon has been lying on the ground for a very long time, which means that it has matured;
• soft peel with brown spots or patches of rot - this sign indicates that the berry has begun to rot, and its flesh is spoiled;
• dried tail - when the fruit is left on the melon for too long after ripening, its peduncle becomes not just lethargic, but dry and very fragile;
• very muffled sound when tapped - the inside of the overripe berry contains a lot of voids, which explain the presence of a dull sound.

Is it possible to eat a ripe watermelon?

The inside of a ripened watermelon may remain bright red and juicy, but its unpleasantness is evidenced by an unpleasant sour aroma and a watery taste. You can’t eat such a berry as fermented pulp not only loses its original pleasant taste, but can also provoke serious food poisoning. For this reason, you can not store these berries for a long time at room temperature - it is better to put them in a refrigerator or take them out to the cellar.

Important! The overripe fruit can also be determined by the pulp - it becomes too grainy, contains many white hard fibers and exudes a clear aroma of fermentation.

What can be done with an overripe watermelon

If, when cutting a striped berry, it turned out to be ripe, then it is no longer possible to eat it fresh. But if the pulp does not start to rot and it does not have a strong unpleasant odor, then it can be rationally used for various purposes.The main uses for overripe specimens are listed below:

• baking watermelon filling - pieces of overripe pulp can be wrapped in dough and baked in the oven so that the heat treatment neutralizes the unpleasant taste;
• watermelon jam - in the process of cooking, the overripe pulp loses all the properties that are harmful to the human body, so the product thus prepared can be eaten;
• watermelon mash - fermentation processes that began in the ripe fruit can be used to produce a delicious alcoholic drink;
• face masks - able to improve the condition of the skin, and if the pulp has not yet begun to rot, then it retains its anti-aging properties.

How to choose a good watermelon

Sometimes it happens that a beautiful berry, by its external characteristics, turns out to be tasteless or overripe inside. The easiest way to check the ripeness of a watermelon is to incise it at the time of purchase, but experts do not recommend this procedure, because the pulp of the incised fruit absorbs dust very quickly and harmful microorganisms multiply in it.

There are several external signs by which it is possible to determine the maturity of a selected specimen without cutting it. All of them are listed later in the article.

To size

Sellers often convince the buyer that the most delicious are large and heavy items weighing more than 10 kg. But this statement is true only for individual varieties, the fruits of which are really large in size after reaching the maturity stage.The basic rules for choosing ripe striped berries by size are listed below:

• it is recommended to buy a watermelon weighing 5-7 kg - larger berries can be grown using nitrates, and small ones can be unripe;
• it is best to buy a berry of medium size and regular shape - this indicates that it ripened on a melon on its own;
• the selected medium-sized specimen should not be very heavy - this indicates that its flesh is too dense and did not have time to ripen.

By sound and crunch

One of the popular ways to check the ripeness of a watermelon is to tap on its peel and squeeze the fetus.

Did you know? When crossing watermelon and pumpkin, a new fruit was obtained - a watermelon. It has a yellow or orange sweet flesh with a characteristic watermelon odor.

The basic rules for choosing ripe striped berries according to this criterion are listed below:

• if you put the fruit on the palm of one hand and slap it loudly on the surface of its peel, the watermelon will resonate - this is because there are micro-voids inside the pulp of a ripe specimen;
• if you take a ripe striped berry with two hands and squeeze it, then it will begin to crack slightly;
• you can lightly tap the crust with your fist - at the same time the ripe berry will make a clear and clear sound, and the unripe copy will sound more muffled.

In appearance of the peel

Even without cutting the fetus, one can judge the degree of its maturity by some external features and the state of the peel.

The following are the main signs by which you can easily choose a really ripe and tasty copy:

• the skin of the fetus should be smooth and even, without deep damage, scratches and rot - through small holes dirt and harmful microorganisms enter the pulp;
• you can’t buy incised specimens, especially if they weren’t cut not with you - the flesh quickly deteriorates under the influence of sunlight, heat and dusty air;
• a ripe specimen has a peel with a bright pattern of contrasting dark and light stripes;
• the peel of the ripe fruit should be dense and hard - if it can be easily pierced with a fingernail, then the watermelon was picked too early and inside it will be unripe;
• the surface of the peel of the striped berry must be clean - adhering dirt and dust can penetrate the flesh through microcracks, and also hide mechanical damage to the peel from the buyer’s eyes.

By smell

The ripeness of the striped berry is also evidenced by its smell. Even without cutting the fruit, you can catch its delicate aroma, which has different notes depending on the ripeness of the product.

Important! If there are both white and black seeds in the pulp of watermelon, this indicates that the product was grown using nitrates and growth stimulants.

The rules for choosing a delicious watermelon by smell are listed below:

• if you gently rub the crust of an unripe fruit with a fingernail, you can feel the characteristic aroma of fresh hay;
• the peel of a ripe striped berry always exudes a pleasant fresh aroma;
• if the peel does not smell at all, then this may indicate the use of nitrates - the pulp of such a fruit will be tasteless.

Side spot on the field

In the process of growth on melon, the watermelon lies on the ground in contact with it on one side. In this place on the peel forms a bright spot - “cheek”.By its appearance, one can judge the maturity of the striped berry:

• the too large size of the “cheek” may indicate that the fruit on the melon received insufficient sunlight and grew in partial shade;
• the white color of the spot on the side of the berry indicates that it is not ripe and was picked too early;
• a yellow or bright orange “cheek” is a sign of a ripe berry - it received maximum sunlight and was torn off the melon on time;
• the brown or brown color of the field spot indicates that the watermelon lay on the melon and began to deteriorate.

Dry tail

After reaching maturity, the watermelon ceases to receive nutrients from the bush on which it grows. Therefore, the stalk, with which the fruit is attached to the branch, gradually begins to wither and dry out.

Important! It is not recommended to buy striped berries without a stalk - this may indicate that the seller deliberately cut it in order to mask low-quality fruits.

To determine the degree of maturity of the striped berry according to the condition of the tail can be by the following signs:

• in a ripe specimen, not only the tail will be dry, but also the edge of the button from which it grows;
• a wet green tail indicates that the watermelon was picked before reaching the maturity stage;
• too dry a tail is a sign that the watermelon was ripped off a very long time ago - it may be damaged inside;
• the tip of the tail should be broken off, but not cut off - the presence of an even cut indicates that the watermelon was ripened unripe, and the tail dried during transportation and storage of the berry.

On the floor of a watermelon

Few people know that watermelons are also divided into “boys” and “girls”. Outwardly, they can be distinguished by this sign only by the ass of the fetus.

The following are the criteria for choosing a delicious specimen on the floor of a striped berry:

• “Girls” have a flat lower part with a wide circle located on it, and their flesh is very sweet and grainy;
• "Boys" are distinguished by a convex lower part, on which you can see a small circle, and their flesh is more dense, watery and less sweet in taste;
• the pulp of “girls” contains fewer seeds than the watermelons of “boys”.

It is quite possible to choose a tasty and healthy watermelon without cutting it. To do this, it is enough to pay attention to the external signs of the fetus, listed in this article, and to purchase striped berries only from trusted sellers.