The Superior Express -

When my family sold and raised watermelons, our customers had their own ways to determine which melon was best. Some picked the melons up and shook them. I assume they did so to determine the weight and suitability for their family size.

Some thumbed the melon and listened for the sound. My father said that method was not a reliable way to determine if a melon was ripe.

“Others insisted a selected melon had to first be plugged. To do this we had a special knife which would reach to the melon’s heart and withdraw a round cylinder. Plugged melons were almost always good melons for the...