Watermelon

[ouryL]

Move to where watermelon’s grow?:dubious:

[GrumpyBunny]

@MindsEye_Watering

You are right. I meant that I wouldn’t buy one in the winter, but these melons are not grown in Georgia - I don’t know where they are grown, but they are in season somewhere, aren’t they?

It’s too early for them to be from anywhere near the US, AFAIK. Even in Florida, they’re ripe in maybe late May.

Generally, fruit that’s had to travel across several time zones and a few international borders isn’t very good. I won’t buy fruit from, say, Chile because it’s just not as good as fruit from closer by grown in season. (Exceptions to this rule are green grapes, which are ok, and kiwi, which seem to be ok even if they travel far.)

But things like watermelon and tomatoes really require summer days and a growing place as close to you as possible to be really, really good.

[Spud]

I’m curious as to where in Georgia the OP is that there are no other options than Walmart. I don’t know how they do their produce but they may not ever locally source their melons. I’ve spent some time in Georgia and in the summer it doesn’t seem hard to find an intersection with a pick up or a small stand selling local produce.

[MindsEye_Watering]

@Spud

I’m curious as to where in Georgia the OP is that there are no other options than Walmart. I don’t know how they do their produce but they may not ever locally source their melons. I’ve spent some time in Georgia and in the summer it doesn’t seem hard to find an intersection with a pick up or a small stand selling local produce.

North Georgia - a bit more than an hour north of Atlanta.

There is a place not terribly far from me (Jaemor Farms) that I go to buy peaches when in season, and in the summer, they grow and have watermelons too, but to my amazement, I got burned by a poor watermelon there, even though one of their “experts” helped me pick one out.

I don’t recall ever seeing small fruit stands the way that see in, say, North Carolina or even California.

[MindsEye_Watering]

@GrumpyBunny

It’s too early for them to be from anywhere near the US, AFAIK. Even in Florida, they’re ripe in maybe late May.

Generally, fruit that’s had to travel across several time zones and a few international borders isn’t very good. I won’t buy fruit from, say, Chile because it’s just not as good as fruit from closer by grown in season. (Exceptions to this rule are green grapes, which are ok, and kiwi, which seem to be ok even if they travel far.)

But things like watermelon and tomatoes really require summer days and a growing place as close to you as possible to be really, really good.

This makes a lot of sense. I guess I have been assuming that a melon grown even in Chile could be, potentially, as good or bad as one grown right next door, if one can only determine which is ripe and which is not so ripe.

Safer to assume that ALL of those melons grown far away are harvested when they are not so ripe.

It still bugs me that even in the height of summer, choosing a good melon seems to be such a crapshoot.

[MindsEye_Watering]

@ouryL

Move to where watermelon’s grow?:dubious:

Or grow them myself. I haven’t got the garden space for watermelons, though.

[MindsEye_Watering]

@Chronos

They may be in season somewhere, but if that somewhere is not where you are, then they had to travel a long way under who-knows-what conditions to get to you. They’ve likely suffered on the journey, and/or been bred to withstand travel at the expense of other qualities, and either way, they’ll end up being inferior.

And what’s the point of seedless watermelon? Spitting out the seeds is half the fun!

Again, this is making sense to me.

Spitting seeds? Fun? No.

[Disheavel]

We’ve had incredible luck with Trader Joe’s and their Yosemite _____ watermelons. Haven’t had a mediocre or disappointing melon in the 6+ years since we started the streak.

But we still do the thumping and listen for the “echo”. I learned that a muffled echo is too ripe- but both are in reference to the other melons in the bin.