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Old June 3, 2017   #8
Whistlebritche
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: Knox City TX
Posts: 17
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I grew up on a farm........my great granddaddy raised watermelons,mostly black diamonds.The one thing he and my grandfather taught me was to always look at the under belly or field spot.If this spot was not yellow you went no farther.If in fact is was yellow........brighter the better,then you thumped it with your middle finger of one hand while laying your other hand on the opposite side.If the skin was firm and you couldn't feel the thump with the opposite hand it was not ripe.If the skin had some give as you thumped and you felt the reverb with the opposite hand ........so far so good.Then you slid your hand under the melon,if it felt heavy for its size this melon was picked.There is an art to all this.My great granddaddy did it for over 60 years.When he was in his 90's and blind he could still pick a perfect melon........and he loved to go to the fields.It's been many years since we had melon fields but I will not buy most melons in the grocery store.Most are picked at least a week early.I do buy cantaloupes but they continue to ripen after picked........watermelons are only good pickled or composted if picked early.
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