I think you should process a watermelon in a way that makes it likely it will all be eaten before it goes bad. It probably goes bad a little faster after it’s been cubed. But you may eat it faster, too, since it’s so much easier to grab a bowl of cubes than to cut yourself a slice and then wrap up the rest.
And if you will eat it all before it goes bad either way, then do you prefer to eat slices or cubes?
Oh, and my compost “pile” is also where i toss all the fall leaves that would otherwise cover the lawn. So it’s not a soupy mess, either. It looks like a pile of leaves.
You buy a whole watermelon when you’re having enough people over to eat it, and then you eat slices. That’s the way God intended watermelon to be eaten.
We are a family of two. I buy a big watermelon because I get it for the least cost per ounce. I cube and Tupperware the whole melon. I then eat watermelon at lunchtime, for dessert at dinner, and as a snack. I also nag my gf to eat more melon. We can make a big watermelon disappear in 72 hours, although I will have GI issues.
Watermelon contains sorbitol, which can (does) cause some intestinal distress
When I lived in the family home, I used to buy the largest one or two I could find and slice as I eat, a quarter at time. Now that I live in a small apartment, tossing the rind is a chore, so I buy pre-cubed. More expensive, but no waste.
When I cut my own, I used a steamer basket to keep the cubes off the bottom so they wouldn’t get soggy.
A couple of stories.
My Dad was really good at choosing melons. He’d always buy the biggest he could find. He’d ask the local supermarket produce manager to hold the really big ones for home. We once bought a 60 pounder for a party that we had to chill in the outside wash tub.
I used to go grocery shopping only once every month or two with my elderly Mom. We’d each get a cart and fill it with what we wanted. One time going back to my truck, I was wondering why she was lagging so far behind. She was pushing the cart with two big melons! I laughed and took it away from her.
Watermelon pickle is divine. When I was a kid, I enjoyed visiting one particular friend, because every visit began by going to the second refrigerator, where the door shelves were filled with mason jars. She’d pull one jar out, and we’d each grab a chunk. Watermelon pickle! I cherished that memory for many many years!
When Mr VOW and I moved into our first house, I subscribed to *Mother Earth News." I bought a dehydrator and a pressure canner, and I got industrious! And I actually made watermelon pickles!
What a pain in the butt! Peeling the dark green off the white rind was as easy as peeling a golf ball. But the memory was strong! I shopped for all the ingredients, and got busy!
Pickles usually have to sit awhile before they can be eaten. I don’t remember how long the watermelon had to “age,” but at the first opportunity, I was there, fork at the ready!
It reminded me of a sweet gherkin, but about 100 times stronger. Everyone who sampled my work did a lot of sputtering, coughing, and gasping! Then came back for more! I haven’t made them since, but now the memory has resurfaced…
Yep - that’s the correct answer - kept we have a family of 2. We usually just slice into wedges, rather than cube. Usu cut 1/2 one day then the 2d 1/2 the next. Gonna get me a big ole bowl right now, as a matter of fact…
I have a family of one, and I do something a bit peculiar: I cut the ends off Watermelons, and on two consecutive days, I fashion bowls out of them, spoon out the fruit and eat it, and then put a little cereal and almond milk in the bowl. That’s breakfast.
I then put the empty bowl, after scraping out any remaining fruit, into the garbage, where it sits in the bottom absorbing any future liquid that would otherwise drip down to the bottom and create a mess. After two days, I eat something else for breakfast, but I slice the middle cylinder into slices which I keep in the fridge for snacks. They store well standing up in the fridge, often flat against the walls where I waste space otherwise.
If I have a big melon, I think about storing it in a jar after pulverizing the fruit in a blender, but usually just eat a slice for a midafternoon snack, or for dessert. The slices are often gone after a few days, when I shop again for melons, especially this time of year when they’re on sale a lot.
A popular radio presenter here in the UK, used to say that the only way to eat a ripe mango was to strip off and sit in the bath (or stand in the kitchen sink with the curtains closed).
When I was a kid, we always had the giant watermelon in the fridge and would slice as you go. Everyone would fight over the butt ends. Then when we started having grad parties the kick was the melon baller. So you’d sit and scoop out tiny balls out of a huge watermelon.
Watermelon is my favorite fruit. We only have good watermelon around here in the summer so I take full advantage of it. I just about eat an entire watermelon (Sam’s Club size) by myself every week. My husband will eat a little. I cut the watermelon outside on the tempered glass outdoor table. I cut it in half lengthwise, then half those pieces. I take my knife and run it between the red and the white rind part, then make cuts all the way down from the top. I end up with small triangles without the rind. I store mine in the tall, narrow containers meant for cereal. They take up less room in the fridge than a big bowl.
I cut the end off a watermelon and put the remainder, cut side down, on a deep round platter, which goes into the fridge.
No need for plastic wrap, the cut side doesn’t dry out, and there’s no leaking from the cut watermelon in the fridge.
When I want more watermelon I just cut another disk off the already-cut end and return the shortened watermelon to the platter.
I will not pre-cube the watermelon because to me, chewing on the inner edge of the rind to get that sharper, drier flavor after having finished the pink sweet flesh is an important part of eating watermelon.
And while we’re at it, spitting out the seeds (because of course you’re outside when you’re eating it) is also an important part of eating watermelon. I wish the seedless ones hadn’t taken over the market.
Excluded middle. Slice the entire melon and store slices, rind and all, because if you’re not holding a slice of watermelon by its sliver of rind and gnawing away at it from point to white stuff you’re doing it wrong.
But the rinds do get property dealt with on the compost heap.
Part of the joy of summer is eating watermelon off the rind. Cubed watermelon deprives me of this joy. That said, with a watermelon (and we usually only buy halves at most), at some point I just want to get rid of the damned thing and end up cubing the quarter or so that is left.
I come from a long line of slice what you intend to eat in one sitting and preserve the freshness of the remaining melon by covering an end with plastic wrap. I will typically buy a whole melon, but I am the only watermelon enthusiast in my family of three. The other two are rather indifferent to watermelon. We seldom finish an entire melon before it goes bad. Usually get through maybe ~75% before having to pitch the remaining heel. Cubing it up ahead of time would only make it go bad faster.
I have a mental problem with throwing out food. I’d have a dinner of nothing but watermelon, dealing with GI issues afterwards, rather than throwing any out!
