How to choose the right melon: ripe and sweet * Garden

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Melon is a fragrant, tasty and very healthy treat that will appeal to both adults and children. However, it can be quite difficult to choose a quality fruit, since an outwardly attractive specimen is not always able to please with high palatability. What to look for first of all when choosing a melon and where it is better to buy it, let's figure it out.

How to choose a good melon

Today there are a large number of varieties of culture, but the most popular in our latitudes is the melon Turkmenka and Torpedo, which are perfectly transported, have excellent taste and aroma. When choosing a melon culture, experts advise to be guided by several criteria: appearance, smell, condition of the skin.

Did you know? The most expensive melon variety is recognized as Yubari King, for copies of which at auctions they give about 20 thousand dollars. The fruits of this variety have the greatest juiciness and sweetness. They are grown in only one region of Japan.

Place of purchase and certificate

Before determining a good melon, it is recommended to pay close attention to the place of purchase and the availability of quality certificates for the products. It is better to buy berries in supermarkets or in specialized fruit and vegetable markets, where strict control of the products sold by the sanitary and epidemiological service is carried out.

You should not buy fruits near roads and especially large highways, since they have the ability to quickly accumulate toxins and harmful substances, which means they will be unsafe for eating.

Despite the place of purchase, in any case, the seller must have a medical certificate, a license to trade and certificates confirming the quality and safety of the products, which he could provide to the buyer upon request.

It is better to refuse to buy goods from dubious distributors who do not have the appropriate documentation. You should also avoid buying berries at stalls with unsanitary conditions or buying melons from the ground.

Ripening period

Depending on the variety, gourds have a different ripening period. In addition, the ripening rate is influenced by many factors: weather, growing region, number of irrigations and fertilizers, soil structure and others.

However, in most cases, its collection is carried out in late August - early September. A fully ripened melon has a number of certain characteristics, according to which it is easy to identify from unripe: aroma, color, taste.

The fact that the berry has not yet ripened is indicated by the following aspects:

the presence on the surface of spots with uneven color;
skin hardness. Ripe melon has a soft skin. When pressed on it, characteristic dents may remain, which quickly recover. If the dent remains, then the berry is overripe;
pronounced, well-visualized longitudinal veins, which are considered a sign of a high content of nitrates in the fetus.

You can check the ripeness of the berry by a simple method: gently pry the skin with a fingernail - if it does not separate well, the berry is not ripe.

Appearance

When choosing a berry, you should clearly know what a quality melon should look like. First of all, you need to pay attention to the color of the peel.

Ripe fruit of different varieties may have the following colors:

bright yellow, yellow or light yellow;
Orange;
with small green stripes.

But regardless of the varieties, the peel should differ in uniform color and approximately the same thickness. Also, there should be no traces of mechanical damage, rotten areas, spots of uncertain origin, scratches, uncharacteristic cracks. Melon should be soft inside, but not fall apart and keep in shape.

Important! Any mechanical damage to the peel can lead to penetration into the pulp and further reproduction of pathogenic organisms, infections, and bacteria.

The surface of the fetus can be smooth or rough depending on the variety, but it is imperative to exclude the presence of any parasites. It is recommended to carefully inspect the “tail” - in quality specimens, it should be dry to the ground. And the “nose” of the fetus, that is, the trace of the flower, should, on the contrary, be slightly soft.

You can distinguish ripe berries from unripe ones by aroma. The first almost always has a fresh and sweet (honey) smell, the second has a slight shade of dampness or a grassy smell. It should be noted that the absence of any aroma in a ripe melon may be a sign that chemicals and harmful substances that activate the growth of fruits were used in its cultivation. Experts advise you to stop buying odorless berries.

Did you know? There is a variety of melons Cucumis microcarpus, the flesh of which tastes like strawberries. Berries are grown in Central Asia and are used for the preparation of preservation.

Sound

Like a watermelon, you can choose a good melon by the sound that makes the fruit during a light slap on its surface. The ripened berry makes a booming, dull sound when patted. Watery sounds indicate that the gourds are overripe.

Taste

Determining the ripeness of the melon will help its tasting. The fruit should have a characteristic sweet, honey flavor in some varieties and a sufficiently soft, juicy pulp of a light color. You should also pay attention to the seeds - they should be large in size and easily move away from the pulp.

The benefits and harms of melon

Melon is not only a fragrant and tasty berry, due to its rich chemical composition it has a number of useful qualities that have a beneficial effect on human health: