Saturday, November 19, 2011



Ripe Baby Watermelon


Tasting a Slice


Inspecting the core


Fresh Picked Watermelon


Bin of Yellow Baby Watermelon


There's nothing better on a hot summer day than a slice of watermelon except maybe a beer! So I stopped by a friend's farm in Oliver, B.C. to chat and eat some watermelon. The yellow baby variety is much sweeter than red watermelon.

I've been selling yellow watermelon for almost 30 years and still some supermarkets today refuse to carry this wonderful fruit. I scratch my head at that.

Funny but true many people just can't get past the yellow color. So this variety is not for everyone, we call those people "the neighbors we never visit".

A problem I often encounter in supermarkets is a lack of training on how to handle this variety of melon. Yellow watermelon can spoil easily if they are not handled properly. I recommend buying halves instead, then you can make sure the melon is good inside.

Yellow baby watermelon have a shelf life of about 4-6 days.  So eat it right away, don't leave it in your fridge to spoil.

Pick up a melon and press very firmly with both thumbs against the rind, if the melon feels soft it is over-ripe. The rind should feel very firm with slight give (like pressing on a football). Yellow watermelon are unusual because you can actually feel the flesh of the melon move when you press your thumbs against the rind. It almost feels like pressing on packed snow and sounds like snow crunching beneath your feet.

The best test is still the taste test, most supermarkets today offer samples of fruit. Don't be afraid to ask for a sample. Enjoy and let me know what you thought after trying your first yellow watermelon...

* watermelon photos from King's Tomato Farm

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