Jeff Hardin purchases a ripe watermelon from Bo Blanks at the Robeson County Farmers Market in downtown Lumberton.

About this time last year, I discussed a very important topic in this column. I went into a lot of detail to share with you how you can tell if a watermelon is ripe by thumping it. There are a lot of different opinions about what it should sound like when you thump a ripe watermelon, but almost everyone agrees that watermelons are delicious.

To simplify last year's discussion, it seems that thumping watermelons is nothing more than a time-honored tradition. Everyone does it because they have seen other people do it. It's kind of like kicking the tires of a car before you buy it. No one knows exactly what it is supposed to sound like when you kick the tires or how it is supposed to feel. It is just something you do.

With enough experience, you can probably learn to recognize the sound you have heard before when you thumped a watermelon that turned out to be especially delicious. However, it is almost impossible to describe that sound to someone else.

Now, after coming to some understanding about thumping watermelons, I have to completely change my scientific measuring methods to determine if they are ripe. I have learned that there is another scientific method to determine which watermelon to buy.

When I visited the downtown Lumberton Farmers Market last Saturday, I was really excited to see a large supply of local watermelons. I love watermelon.

The season was delayed slightly this year because of the cool spring, and frequent showers during the early spring prevented many farmers from getting their vegetable crops, including watermelons, planted on time. Local watermelons are usually available around the 4th of July, but this year, they were a week or so late.

I went from one truck to the next admiring all the beautiful watermelons and thumping every one I could reach. I wanted to impress people that I knew what a ripe watermelon sounded like.

I was trying to choose between a large, medium, or small watermelon. I could not decide if I wanted a long one or a big round one. Did I want several small icebox watermelons, one for each day, or a big one that I could cut and place in the refrigerator to eat on until I went back to the market the next week?

There were dark green watermelons with light green stripes and light green watermelons with dark green stripes. Or maybe they were the same watermelons. I have not figured that out yet. It might just be an optical illusion. Maybe these watermelons look like that just to confuse the dumb buyers, kind of like thumping.

I was trying to decide which watermelon to buy and thumping them all to make sure they were ripe. I noticed Jeff Hardin from Fairmont across the aisle talking to Leslie "Bo" Blanks, who sells only one product at the market - watermelons.

I walked over to speak to Jeff, since I had not seen him in several years. He immediately asked me if I knew how to tell if a watermelon was ripe. Of course I did. I explained it all in my column last year. I had practiced thumping watermelons. I was a watermelon-thumping expert.

As I began to explain the process of watermelon thumping to him, he quietly pulled a long straw out of his shirt pocket and told me he could show me a better way. This straw was about 12 inches long, just a simple straw that had been pulled out of an old straw broom. It was perfectly straight.

Jeff gently placed the straw crossways across on top of one of the watermelons on Mr. Blank's truck. This was one of those dark green watermelons with light green stripes, so the straw was placed perpendicular to the stripes.

By this time, a small crowd had gathered around Mr. Blank's truck. We all watched in amazement as the straw slowly rotated to line up long ways on top of the watermelon. It lined up perfectly with the stripes on the watermelon.

Just to show it was a scientific method and the test was reliable, Jeff placed the straw on several other watermelons. Big ones, small ones, long ones, or round ones, it did not matter. The straw would slowly rotate to line up perfectly lengthwise on top of the watermelons.

When someone asked if we really knew if they were ripe, a farmer in the space adjacent to Mr. Blanks pulled a big knife out of his truck. This was his watermelon-cutting knife. Mr. Blanks took the knife and sliced the watermelon in two. It was perfectly ripe. In fact, everyone around the truck eagerly sampled the watermelon, and we all agreed that it was delicious.

Now, I have shared with you that there are two reliable methods to determine if a watermelon is ripe or not. You can either thump it or you can place a straight straw on top of it.

But the most important thing is that you must have a watermelon to test and then to eat. There are plenty of them at the Farmers Market in downtown Lumberton. They are all locally grown, fresh out of the field, and absolutely delicious. Stop by and buy one. Thump it first or bring your own straw.

E-mail address: Everett_Davis@ncsu.edu

Mailing Address:
P. O. Box 2280
Lumberton, NC 28359-2280

Phone: 910-671-3276
Fax: 910-671-6278

Date Created 07/22/09