Watermelon plugs...

Greg1959

Well-known Member
I remember going with my papaw to buy a watermelon. He would always 'plug' it to check on ripeness. Sometimes, he would 'plug' a many of them.

Could you imagine doing that today?

So, I thought I would give it a try today. I went to the local produce dealer today and asked if I could 'plug' his watermelon before I bought it.

Nope, can't do it, gotta buy it.

Gosh, how times have changed.
 
He might have been a Great man, but he was wrong on that issue. ripeness is easily determined by a thump and hearing the resonance. Jim Jim
 
Take a straw (a real one - don't know if plastic works) out of a broom, lay it 90º to the centerline of the melon so it's balanced and free to rotate; if it rotates on it's own, she's ready. That's the way the old Mormons in Utah do it and it's been right for me everytime!
 
Checking for ripeness, Ive had better luck looking at how much yellow is on it and if the stem is green or dried.
 
Back around 1970 my brother and I had a produce stand selling fruits and vegetables grown on my uncle's farm. We did not core watermelons. If the customer found the melon wasn't ripe they could bring it back. We never had a single returned watermelon.
 
We sold many melons at my parents produce stand thru the 50+ years my dad ran it and we never plugged a melon. We told them if it wasn't ripe to come back for another one. We did cut some in half to show them then sold it to them or ate it ourselves. But today if you cut a melon or remove the shuck from sweetcorn for display before you sell it you need a "Processors License" since you have processed the food from its natural state.
 
Have used the thump many times. The good old hot dog long striped melons with plenty of seeds were the best! The newer seedless just don't have as much flavor.
 
I've found that Champion isn't what it used to be. The watermelons don't run good unless I put in NGKs.

We didn't buy a watermelon unless it could be plugged. Of course, we bought them out of a stock tank of freezing cold water.

My mother still returns fruit. I've told her a million times, "Mom, fruit is a gamble. You know that going in." She's got enough farm sense to pick pretty good stuff, but if that pineapple isn't up to her standards she heads back to Smith's Market with it in a bag. It makes me nuts. She just used $7 in gas for the pineapple she bought on sale for $2.99.
 
As a kid I worked on a vegetable farm for 10 years and the fellow I worked for showed me how to determine ripeness and it was done when picking. When the tendril opposite where the melon attaches to the vine is dead, then it is ripe and pickable.
it was always true. Only ripe melons went on to the farm stand or to market.
My 2 cents.
If someone "plugged" one of my melons, I plug him! Cal
 
(reply to post at 07:15:39 07/31/15)

MJ,
That's not for a melon but to see when the baby is due.

Oooops! :oops: BUT as long as it keeps workin' I'm bound to continue doing it to them (melons, that is). 8)
 

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