How To Pick A Ripe Melon

There's a scene in the 1980's television sitcom The Golden Girls where the ladies find themselves arguing at the supermarket over the right way to select a ripe cantaloupe. Dorothy said the way to choose a melon was to smell the tip. Blanche's "Southern method" involved giving the melon a thump. Rose's method, the "farm method," involved pulling out a pocketknife and cutting a piece out of each melon and sampling them all until a good one was found.

Blanche and Dorothy were both right to an extent. There are several steps to picking out a ripe melon.

Choose a melon that seems heavy for its size and does not have bruises or soft spots.
Tap the melon with the palm of your hand. If you hear a hollow sound, it's passed the first test.
Next, push your fingers on the round section where the vine was attached. It should be slightly soft and fragrant.

On melons such as cantaloupe and muskmelons, the rind underneath the net-like texture should be yellow or cream colored, not green. Honeydews should be pale yellow to light lemon in color, not greenish.

Comments (2)

When Balducci's was still Balducci's the fruit guy taught me how to pick a honeydew mellon:
1) If it smells good it is good
2) The rind should feel a little tacky (sticky).
This has worked for me each and every time, although sometimes I can't find a honeydew melon to meet the criteria and I just get something else.

posted by amybnyc on September 24th 2008 at 8:54am
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Smell. There are a lot of things I won't bother buying if the smell doesn't hit me when I stand near the booth. Peaches as well as melons.

posted by whytephoenix on September 25th 2008 at 9:44am
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