Every summer, I make sure to eat my fill of watermelon. It’s a perfect warm weather fruit – refreshing and thirst quenching. I used to spit out the seeds but with both seeded and seedless watermelons, I’ve become accustomed to chewing and swallowing the seeds. Once in a while, my husband and I eat watermelon standing over the kitchen sink so we can spit the seeds into the sink; it’s a vague reminder of our watermelon seed spitting contests when we were first dating.
As much as eating watermelon is part of my summer ritual, so is picking one out. It’s a hit and miss with whole ones because you can’t see the flesh inside. For years, we bought cut wedges of watermelon, but that unfortunately meant eating it soon. A whole one can be left around for a week or so before I cut into it. I could eat it at my leisure. When I buy a watermelon at the farmer’s market, I ask the vendor to select a good one. It’s my insurance plan against a bland melon. The vendor doesn’t want to disappoint me, right?!
A few weeks ago, I was left to pick the watermelon myself. They were on sale at Whole Foods in one of those large cardboard containers positioned outside the entrance to attract customers. As my husband and I picked through and tapped about a quarter of the melons. I was somewhat nervous about picking a good one.
I decided to look for a heavy melon with deep green skin and a yellow field spot where the melon rested as it matured. Those were hopefully signs of mature melon with good flavor.
Then an African-American man came up to us and offered advice. He looked more like a surfer type than a melon expert, but then he said: “My dad’s is from Mississippi and he knew how to pick a melon. Go for the sound. It’s gotta be sonic. Let me help you.”
So the three of us went through the watermelons together, tapping and listening for the sonic. He continued, “I just heard a story on the radio about how to pick a watermelon. They said to look for a wide amount of space between the lines, deep green color, and a blossom end that’s big.”
We ended up going through over half of the watermelons in the container and coming up with none that fit the man’s criteria. About 10 minutes passed before he gave up and said, “Well, it’s gotta be sonic, like my dad said. I stopped to help you because I heard that story on the radio today.”
That was very kind of him to pass along old fashioned advaice, even though he didn’t help us pick one. But I felt a surge of confidence. I looked for the melon with the deepest shade of green and the most sonic of sounds when tapped – kinda like my tummy when I’ve eaten too much watermelon. The melon sat around for several days before I cut into it to see. Not bad.
It was a big watermelon. We ate half of it over the course of days and then, I cut it into cubes for a Thai-style salad, a favorite of mine from the now-defunct City restaurant in Los Angeles.
It's not like many other melon salads. Southeast Asia is represented by lime juice, garlic, peanuts, fish sauce, lime leaf, chiles and dried shrimp. The dressing lasts for days in the fridge so we were able to eat up the rest of the watermelon. Feel free to mix melons for pretty colors and varied flavors: red watermelon, orange cantaloupe, and green honeydew.
Recipe
Thai Watermelon Salad
Yields: 8 servings
Ingredients
- 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 2 tablespoons packed light palm sugar or brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce
- ¼ cup (60 ml) fresh lime juice
- 2 Thai or Serrano chiles, minced with seeds intact for fun
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped kaffir lime leaf (remove the midrib)
- ⅓ cup (90 ml) dried shrimp, briefly rinsed to soften and finely chopped
- ½ cup (120ml) roasted, unsalted peanuts, chopped
- A volleyball-size seedless watermelon
Instructions
- For the dressing, combine the garlic, sugar, fish sauce, and lime juice in a bowl, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the lime leaf, dried shrimp, and peanuts. Set aside for 15 minutes, then revisit the dressing for a taste test. Add extra lime juice, sugar, or fish sauce as needed to balance the flavors. Set aside or refrigerate for up to 3 days; return to room temperature before using.
- Cut the watermelon into 1-inch (2.5 cm) cubes. Pile them into individual bowls, on a dramatic platter or in a shallow bowl. Top with the dressing and serve.
Got watermelon or melon picking tips?
