Watermelon: five mistakes you make with this summer fruit

Food

When choosing it, keeping it or eating it, you must take this into account

Agencies

"Watermelon and melon, how good for the heat." The proverb and popular wisdom say so: they are the summer fruits par excellence. Watermelon is refreshing, low in calories, full of water that hydrates you and makes you feel good when you're hot, and it's also very versatile.

But sometimes we “sin”. We don't know how to treat this fruit: we choose it underripe, we don't clean it well, we don't use its full potential in the kitchen... We review the most common mistakes we make with it so that you can enjoy a good watermelon 100%.

1. Choosing it wrong

Buy a whole watermelon, open it at a meal with friends and discover that it is floury or has no flavor at all. It has happened to you and to all of us, and it makes us very angry. That is why you have to know the tricks to choose the best watermelons.

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According to specialists in the field, “it is that the stain of the bark that is in contact with the ground is yellowish. In addition, by gently tapping it with the fingers or the palm of the hands, when we weigh it, it should produce a “hollow” sound”, they say at Fruits Molins, farmers with farms in Molins de Rei and greengrocers in Barcelona. Another important aspect: that there are no marks or bruises, that the skin is very whole, healthy, shiny.

2. Buy chopped watermelon (if it is not well preserved)

It is an image that is repeated in summer in the most tourist markets and greengrocers on streets frequented by visitors: trays of fruit already cut, ready to eat. And among them, the watermelon, so sweet and summery. But be careful, if the fruit is not hermetically packaged or has gone through industrial sanitation processes (nor is it labeled, for example), "very scrupulous hygiene and handling conditions must be observed. All persons involved in the process must be certified as food handlers. A salmonellosis can be caused by an unhygienic handler, who is a carrier of salmonella, goes to the bathroom and does not wash his hands afterwards, ”Juan Revenga, dietitian nutritionist and biologist, pointed out to La Vanguardia Digital.

In addition, according to Revenga, “the fruits must be kept in a cold chain. They shouldn't be exposed, once cut, at room temperature,” he notes. The fruit is allowed to be unrefrigerated in the establishments when it has the skin that protects it. So avoid those greengrocers with porexpan trays with watermelon exposed to room temperature for hours and hours.

3. Do not wash it before opening it

All the bacteria typical of agricultural soil accumulate in the rind or skin of the watermelon, where there are bird feces, remains of fertilizers and a thousand and one bugs. This is why it is so important, before opening the watermelon, to wash it very, very well.

A good idea, according to food safety specialists, is to use one knife to cut the slices, and a different one to separate the meaty part from the crust.

4. Not tapping into your full potential

Slice of watermelon for dessert or mid-morning, sink your teeth into it and eat it like this, always. Eating watermelon as it is is a good habit, but you can get bored. It is a shame not to take advantage of its full potential and the possibilities it offers when it comes to presenting it. Cutting it into small pieces and passing it through the blender or blender (and adding a little water if necessary to soften the texture) you will get a spectacular watermelon juice. With a few chopped mint leaves, you will turn it into a very pleasant morning sip. With that same liquid you can also prepare delicious ice creams.

In smoothies or shakes it can be mixed with other milks, ice cream, yogurt or vegetable drinks to achieve a more powerful and satiating drink than simple juice. And in salads, accompanied for example by cottage cheese and orange, it is delicious. Or this other idea with cucumber, mango, lemon and soy sauce is perfect for summer. Conclusion: explore, search for recipes and enjoy its thousand options as fresh fruit and with a beautiful color!

5. Pull your skin

Although it seems very strange, the rind of the watermelon can be eaten, yes. It can be put in a blender with lemon juice to prepare a very fresh drink, with a lot of chlorophyll and citrulline, an amino acid that is very favorable for cardiovascular health and the immune system, as some studies have indicated. In fact, researchers from the Higher Technical School of Agricultural Engineering of Murcia (ETSIA) have developed a watermelon juice that reduces muscle pain after 24 hours of intense sports activity.

The rind or green part of the watermelon, well washed, crushed with a little mint and adding ice, can be a drink with many properties. In addition, the whitish part that is between the red meat and the skin can be mixed with other ingredients such as onion, and seasoned with pepper.