As product prices rise, it is important to buy quality fruit and vegetables to make them worth the money you spend. Buying a well-ripened and good melon can be a tricky experience if you don't know exactly what to look for. Follow these steps to ensure you have a great quality purchase.
Steps
Step 1. Look good
Take a look at the baskets, shelves or boxes in which they are displayed. If there are flies or other insects nearby, or if there is juice dripping out covering the other fruit, it's probably a good idea to buy your melons elsewhere.
Step 2. To choose your cantaloupe, look for a light brown fruit with green dashes running through it
Avoid fruits with holes, dents, or large brown or black spots.
Step 3. Feel it by touch
Get the melon you would like to buy. It should be heavy enough, given its size, and tough, but not too heavy. A very hard cantaloupe is fine if you are buying it to use within a week, but if you want to take it home and eat it right away, it better give way a little when you press it.
Step 4. Smell it
Smell the spot where the cantaloupe was cut from the plant. You should feel an aroma similar to that of the freshly cut fruit. If you can't feel anything, it means it's not ripe yet. If, on the other hand, the smell is not pleasant, it means that it is no longer good to eat.
Step 5. Listen
Shake the melon next to one ear. If you can feel the seeds moving inside it, it's ready!
