Alright! This is John Kohler with OKRAW.COM Today I
have another exciting episode for you today. Im at the national heirloom expo 2016 and
We are in the hall with all the different fruits and vegetables, I got displays of like
garlic, tomatoes and pepper, eggplants and melons and squash and watermelons and more
squash as you guys can see the squash tarred behind me but what am going to show you guys
today is how to pick out a ripe water melon, I know many of you guys have had this problem
before and it really bothers me a lot when I get unripe water melon or when it doesn’t
taste sweet, it’s not good, its standard camera’s it will be good, but when you look
at the stores there are up to pick really and they just ship and truck and they are
sold. so I encourage you to grow your own melons,
they are the highest quality melons, maybe you go look right there at farmer’s market,
where they can be even better but not always because I have gotten some, local melons in
my area that have actually been worse than store bought, but anyways in this episode
I am going to show you guys my 21 years of picking out water melons and learning and
getting better every year and share you guys my top tips and you guys could pick a ripe
sweet water melon the first time, anyways let’s go ahead and head over to the heirloom
water melon section showed you guys my tips on the water melon we have on display today. So now am in the water melon section as you
guys can see there is a tables upon tables and tables of eatable water melons being grown. Now first of all let you guys know that there
are many varieties of water melons and if you are buying water melons in the store,
generally they are a couple of categories, those are seedless water melons, seeable water
melons and personal watermelons there are only three kinds, but here they several tables
of even over a hundred varieties of melons. This one right here is actually the orange
flesh tender sweet, and you couldn’t tell from just looking at the outside because it’s
still the green color there are some water melon that are actually yellow on the outside,
ones that are yellow on the inside and there are even ones that are white on the inside
and all a little bit different and they are all amazing. Now what encourage you to visit the local
Asian market they may actually have the yellow water melons which are actually one of my
favorite ones instead of red I prefer the yellow water melons, and I always encourage
you guys to get the seeded water melons, there is nutrition in the seed, so a seeded water
melon is more nutritious than the seedless because if you eat the seed you are getting
the nutrition from the seeds and the more you get that from the seed, if the seeds you
plant them in your garden to grow water melon the next year and save yourself the hassles
and cost of buying a seed packets. Anyways what we are going to do next is go
down and show you guys my top tips on selecting a ripe water melon and this is going to be
in other from most important to least important. So let’s head down and show you my first
tip. So the first I want to show you guys and that’s
the most important is use your nose to select a ripe fruit, most fruits actually has some
kind of odor smell good floral when they are ripe. And that includes water melon even though
you may think water melon don’t smell nice because most of the water melons you guys
ever smell are picked unripe so they don’t actually have a scent yet, the scent comes
out when the fruit is more matured and more sweet, so try that. Snip the whole bend over selections of water
melons and I know that’s kind of going to look weird to a lot of people and find the
ripe one, so what am looking at here is their strawberry water melon, and of all the melons
here, like when I walked by the section, I instantly smelled like wow something in this
area smell good and then I was like smelling all the different water melons in that area
and this one when I smelled it, it actually smelled kind of like it actually smelt kind
of sweet, I don’t know why If I saw this one in the place but yes it smelt really good,
and that gives me like the first indicator, if it smelt good, that’s definitely good
indicator that it’s ripe, I don’t want you guys to use any one of these tips that
I am showing you guys to pick a ripe one. You want to try to get all the different tips
in one melon, if it smell good and meet some of the other criteria that I am going to show
to you guys in the minute and that’s definitely a good candidate in what I generally what
I do when I go to a store is that you use all the tips and kind of like find ones that
meet my criteria and bring them to a certain area and five out of the whole of display
and then like go down through them, touch, feel, smell each one to find the best one
that I am going to end up buying and then eating. So let’s move on and show you guys the next
tip. So the next tip I want to show to you guys
is actually really important and for water melon demonstrates this and actually I don’t
buy it, so what we are looking at here are actually the white wonders, so this water
melons are called the white wonders, they just look like a seed of water melon on the
inside, but if we cut this into half and it opens up, it actually white on the inside,
there are so many amazing qualities in the water melons, and if we are not familiar with
them I do encourage you guys to visit reallseeds.com get their free seed catalogue, and in all
these catalogues, you get all of the seeds to grow these melons plus they have many awesome
pictures and you can actually see what they look like. Unfortunately, you can’t taste what they
look like unless you buy them. So anyway the tip now is actually you want
to find a water melon, you want to press into it, like pressing into it, you guys can’t
quite see that, but when I press into it, it actually gives, it’s kind of like mildly
ripe avocado. In avocado actually, you can be able to press
into it to know that it is ripe so that you can eat it, the water melon on the other hand
are the complete opposites, if it presses in, to me that means it has actually been
off the vine so long, it’s been kind of past its prime. Not to say that it is becoming bad but if
it is definitely press able, it is not one that is generally would want to buy or try
to find one that is actually affirm that you can’t depress so another important tip for
you guys. Third tip I want to show to you guys on picking
out ripe water melon is like this garage here, this is actually called the jumbo black diamond,
look at this guy, we are trying to be pressing , this guy is heavy must be quite 50 plus
pounds its insane so the next tip is actually you want to get a water melon that is not
like the largest in the bunch but you want to get one that is heavy for the same size
so you pick up two water melon at the same exact size, one is lighter, one is heavier
right, get the one that is heavier guess why because that’s more water content , it’s
fresher, there’s more liquid in there and then if it is kind of lighter, then there
is not going to be as ripe or maybe drying out on the inside or maybe not going to be
sweet for sure. Next tip get one heavy for its size. Even if it is not a jumbo black diamond. So the next tip I want to show you guys is
just one in my arsenal of tips that I want to share with you guys, it’s one of the
one I use the most, and it’s kind of the easiest, it’s kind of separate out the good
from the bad but of course you want to in cooperate more other tips in the selecting
a water melon for you and your family. So basically that is the top test for example
this guy right here is actually called the Mc. Cain water melon if we tap it and put it over
on the mic and put it on the same layer actually, we tap it. You hear how that sounds it’s kind of like. It’s not like super high not super low it’s
kind of like in the middle like just a tap on your chest it kind of sound the same now
hear this one it’s kind of higher pitched . we wanted somewhere between this range and
if we go over this one next door, this is actually called the smooner and we tap this
guy you hear it like it does not really you hear t he difference, that one, this one is
alright but this one is better, and this one is like the worst, use the tap test kind of
like you are beating on your chest if you keep forgetting what it should sound like. Just another indicator that the water melon
may be ripe. The next tip I want to show to you guys is
also a good indicator, but this alone does not necessarily mean it’s going to be a
good water melon, I want you guys to take note of all these factors into consideration
and find a melon with all these things I a showing to you guys and then you will have
a high probability of getting a really good water melon for you and your family. The next tip, this is actually a called the
down dark blue striped melon, that’s a nice tap, listen to that. That’s a good sign, I push on it, it doesn’t
depress another good sign, now that s kind of heavy for its weight maybe a little bit
lighter than I would like but it has the next indicator, which I don’t know if you guys
can see that but its right here, I just knocked it, don’t know if you guys can see that
but basically what happens is like this it isn’t a black….. It dropped there are some more, don’t worry. There is a little black spot and this is like
the sugar spot and so also an end tip we are taking up the vine and you guys can see around
here a little bit of like it’s like brown, it looks like dried like syrup or sap dried
molasses, something like that, that’s another good sign that it’s going to be definitely
a good water melon, but just because you see this doesn’t mean it’s going to be good,
you want to look for the other indicators as well, so I will just move on and show you
guys the next indicator. But definitely good melon. Now I want to show to you guys the next tip
or indicator for finding a good melon and once again this tip relates to like check
in the same variety of melon like you can’t compare this melon to the one next to it. It’s like you know a different color or
a different variety right? But basically amongst the same variety of
melons, this is actually called the ash kiered gizzard, something like that, you guys can
see they are all in certain colors, this kind of colors aren’t like super dark green but
that’s alright because melon comes in all different colors but what is important is
when you find the melons that are supposed to be in a certain way, you are going to see
ones that are kind of deeper rich colors and ones that are lighter in colors so clearly
look at this, like this looks like a deep one, and if you look at this one here, you
guys can see, it looks like a little bit more white, it’s not maybe full color this can
be an indicator for ripeness like immature fruits not going to be fully colored up and
more matured fruit maybe having full color to it . In this case this is probably one
that I actually would not get and the one here that has a much better color even if
it is one next door a little bit deeper richer color. more stimulating to my eye would also be a
good choice, now I want to show to you guys a common tips given people for selecting water
melon and I haven’t necessarily found this to be true, but it may be accurate for you
so what we have here, is we actually have a water melon that is actually called the
pie melon and one of the big tips that people like to say is that the you want to look for
the yellow spot on the bottom. That’s what it’s like sitting on the ground,
they didn’t actually get the sun and if it has a big yellow spot then it’s going
to be sweeter. I personally actually haven’t found that
to be true personally but definitely use the other tips that I showed to you guys in this
video before I just like oh it has a big yellow spot I am getting and I don’t know about
that one, but I will go ahead and show my last and final tip to you guys and in fact
one of the most important ones so that you can guarantee you will get a good water melon. so my last and final tip for you guys, what
we are looking at now is actually the new arm show rigid water melon and once again
you know just because a water melon is small, you don’t like john says that one is bad,
you need the big giant one, no you want a biggest one for the size so like ….. melons
are actually quite small ones that is actually a little bit bigger and actually heavy for
its size so these melons are like a little bit over and not so good because they are
kind of lighter, so here’s the final tip, I share with to you guys, if you guys are
not buying a whole water melon, it’s always easier and better to buy a cut water melon,
because with a cut water melon, you can instantly see if it’s ripe or not, you can be able
to smell it, easier and you can see what the flesh looks like right, so this one Is actually
broken open, from the inside, I don’t know if you guys can see that, but on the inside,
look this is like a deep press, it’s spongy on the inside, right, this one, as I am pressing
on the outside, it’s actually deep presses like a ripe avocado, so that’s a not a good
thing. Also this is light, it’s weight, that’s
another thing, and we open it up, it’s spongy on the inside not going to be good, if I bought
this one which I wouldn’t but if I got it for like free they are giving away, I could
actually juice it up to make water melon juice in my juicer and it would be quite delicious
to drink still but maybe not so sweet and may not be the ultimate water melon, but if
it’s a cut melon and you have to go for it and remember one smell it and if it smell
pretty good but not like super different or sweet you would have to be able see if it
looks like melon on the inside, it will be able to depressive if your finger goes in
really easy, that’s not going to be a good melon and wont encourage you guys, if you
don’t know how to pick a melon and want to make sure you get a good one, I am going
to cut this guy and have to pick one, and then you can cut it half way and then you
can cut a water melon, that’s a lot safer method to ensure you get a ripe water melon,
despite all my tips, remember I showed you guys all my tips, and how to pick a water
melon and I am going to go ahead to put my tips to the test. Because here at the Elle’s we emphasize
on the display of the other water melons to have a whole bunch of extra ones that there
are selling for just five bucks. I am hungry for lunch, I haven’t eaten yet,
so this is going to be my lunch today, I am going to pick it out and use some of the techniques
I just showed you guys so I am going to visit different pallets of water melons here, so
the first step is just kind of like look at them all, and if it’s the same variety which
in most cases it’s going to be the same exact variety you want to get the colored
one but the way I kind of go by first to kind of like separate out the good from the bad
is just tap on them, so I am going to go around and over the different palette and tap, and
find a couple of nice ones that I really like, I take off the nice ones and put them in a
certain area, and then I will like pick from those best nice ones and throw them at the
back put you know lift it and to check the weight and see if I will see the sugar marks,
and also put it up to my face and smell it, to see if it smells pretty good, you can also
smell as you tap on them to see if there is a good waft odor because smell is quite one
of the most important things to determine a ripe watermelon, so I am going to go around
to determine so I will tap it, right there, you guys can do that, it sounds kind of like
hollow, I will also press it’s a little bit soft, not a good sign, this one is really
soft you guys can see me press on it, I don’t know if it’s soft I don’t like that so
much, this one definitely not sounding too good. Play the drums, play the water melon drums. Alright I have been looking through all these
water melons, at least we have found one, that sound pretty nice, and actually have
that tag most of them don’t have a tag, this is actually called refined sugar so for
a name like that, it got to be sweet, provided it’s ripe. I don’t encourage you guys to even find
sugar unless it’s refined sugar water melons. So let’s smell this guy I mean here is a
very mild odor and we are looking at it, I don’t know if you guys are going to see
that but right now in the stems there, some of those are sugars marks that I tell you
guys about coming at the end. So that looks like that it might be pretty
good, for its size it’s a pretty small water melon, it’s actually quite heavy, so that’s
a good sign as well and once we try to push on it, it doesn’t give like ripe avocado,
if you don’t want it like that enjoy any of those categories so there is no St mark
yellow sport on it But this one looks like a good one for me pay for it and I will cut
open and taste it on the camera so you guys know how it is. So now I selected and bought the refined sugar
water melon, we are going to cut it open for you, and show you guys some tips and let you
know how it works. Okay it’s pretty good I got my ceramic knife
here, I like ceramic knives it doesn’t import flavor to your food like stainless steel made
plus it’s sharper and longer and you don’t sharpen the knives regularly so that is why
I like the ceramic, so I put this in the melon and it starts to crack even if I am not cutting
it, so that’s definitely a good sign. Alright let’s see what it looks like on
the inside, alright look at that, nice, deep, rich, red melon, we are smelling it, thin
odor on the inside, here I want to explain to you guys the sweetest part of the melon,
the sweetest part of the melon is not by the rime it’s always like right in the middle
of it, so if you are like digging it yourself, you could always dig out the melon and serve
the rest to the other people, or the other day the technique I use sometimes is to start
eating at the middle first to get the sweetest part and then eat the outside around the edges
first and then eat the middle to the end. so we are going to go ahead and take the knife
here, we are going to slice that little section here, definitely think I did good this time
it could be sweeter but definitely happy with my approaches and this is going to feed me
more than many people here. Lunch today, and the food boot area all the
food behind me, you could buy a plate of food for like 10 bucks, but you can buy a water
melon for 5 bucks, this is more than a meal for me. If you guys enjoyed this episode of learning
about how to pick a water melon with my tips I shared with you guys, then give me thumbs
up. You should let me know or be sure to come
out to the 2017 Ellen expo. You guys should eat some of these crazy delicious
Ellen water melon and know more about elien and grow your own food at home, home grown
foods are some of the best food that money can’t buy. Visit some of my past episodes I have over
four hundred episodes now on this you tube channel dedicated to teaching you guys how
to eat fruit and vegetables, because they are my favorite food, in the whole entire
world and be sure to share this video with somebody that doesn’t know how to pick water
melons so they could improve their skills, be sure to click the subscribe so you don’t
miss out on any of my upcoming episode, upcoming about five to seven days you never know where
I will show up or what you will be learning on my you tube channels . Once again my name
is john Kohler with okraw.com we will see next time, till then remember keep eating
your fruit and vegetable because they are the best.
