How Much Watermelon is There in a Watermelon?
Today we'll examine watermelons for their edible fruit percentage in our continuing investigation into Edible Fruit Prices to help my readers determine the actual cost per pound for various fruit produce.
I bought a ripe, decently plump watermelon weighing 17.3 pounds. How can I tell if it's ripe? Simple: I use a hand refractometer to measure the concentration of sugar from the center of the melon and therefore its sweetness. Once soluble sugars reach 10% - you've got yourself a juicy, ripe melon.
OK, I'm joking. I don't use such a device because the supermarket might take unkindly to my poking holes in their fruit to get samples.
So here are some hints on determining ripeness:
- Belly Color:
Check under the melon, the part that was on the ground - if it has a yellow or light bottom, see photo above, it should be ripe.
- Thumping:
I like giving the melon a good knuckle rap and listen for a hollow sound or dull thump. Not every ripe watermelon may make this sound, but if it does, you can be pretty sure it's ripe, along with other indicators mentioned here. Do a few melons each time you shop and eventually you ear will pick up the right sound.
- Sniff
Go through as many melons as you can at the supermarket, picking the one that has the sweetest, most watermelonny fragrance. Again with practice, your nose will eventually pick the juiciest, most ripe melon.
- Stripes
Choose the melon with the least contrast between the stripes. The color between the stripes should be light green.
Although any one of the criteria may not pick the perfectly ripe melon, getting all four will virtually guarantee it.
Watermelons, at 30 calories per 100 grams, have fewer calories than cantaloupes or honeydews.
After carving out the rind of my 17.3 pound melon I was left with 11.2 lbs of delicious, juicy, summer watermelon or about 65% edible fruit.
Thus the true cost of watermelon can be determined by dividing the price per pound of the uncut melon by .65 - if the price per pound of the uncut melon is 49 cents a pound then the true price per pound is .49/.65 = 75 cents per pound.
