Early watermelons, to eat or not to eat

The watermelon season has begun in Irkutsk, and experts remind that early watermelons and melons should be bought with special care. The article explains how melons are checked for nitrates and radiation, why early fruits can be dangerous, and who should avoid them. It also gives tips on choosing a ripe and safe watermelon and not making a mistake when buying.

The watermelon season has begun in Irkutsk. It is a time when consumers should be especially careful when buying the striped berry. Unscrupulous melon growers like to water the first crop with nitrates so that it ripens faster. So what kind of watermelons are sold at our markets? Are they tested for quality?
Although the harvest is early, it is in demand. Buyers ask many questions about the quality of watermelons and melons, but they cannot resist the temptation. In a single day, about 200 kilograms are sold at just one retail outlet.

The quality of watermelons is studied in the laboratory. The radiation level and the amount of nitrates are checked. If it does not exceed the limit, the batch is sent for sale. And yet specialists do not advise people with intestinal and stomach diseases to buy early watermelons and melons.
Specialists advise buying watermelons and melons in the second half of August. That is when the best berries arrive. Also, when buying, safety rules must be observed: check the sales documents, choose whole fruits, and be sure to wash them with soap at home.
According to the expert, any watermelon, including an early one, is dangerous only in one case — if a person overindulges in it. Watermelon is a dessert. You should eat one piece, at most two. Eating half a watermelon at once means condemning yourself to digestive problems. All melon crops have extremely coarse fiber, which is poorly absorbed by the body. Therefore, doctors strongly advise against it. them for children and elderly people over 50.
If you still decide to treat yourself to watermelon now, it is better to buy it at the market rather than by the roadside. That way, specialists assure, you can reduce the risk of ending up in the hospital with an intestinal infection.
What to pay attention to when buying a watermelon:
Yellow (not white-pink) veins in the watermelon flesh indicate the presence of nitrates.
Before eating, the watermelon should be washed and rinsed with boiled water. Doctors say that nitrates on the surface are far more dangerous than those inside the watermelon.
If a watermelon is punctured or damaged, it will not last even a week. Therefore, you should not buy watermelons that are even slightly damaged or cracked.
A dry stem (the tail at the top of the fruit) is not always a sign of ripeness: the watermelon may have been picked green and then dried later. It is much more important to look closely at the place where the tail grows from, the so-called button. If it is convex with lighter calloused edges, that is a more reliable sign of a ripe watermelon
Forget the folk belief: an unripe watermelon should be dull, and a ripe one should ring. It is exactly the opposite. A ripe one should be dull, because the sound depends on whether the flesh inside has softened or not. In addition, a ripe watermelon should be light.
If the watermelon crackles when squeezed by hand, you can confidently take out your wallet.
On the underside of the watermelon there is a so-called ground spot. It is desirable for it to be yellow rather than white.
A ripe watermelon can be easily scratched: run your fingernail over it, and you will easily remove the top layer of the rind.
If the price tag says “Astrakhan,” that may be the name of the variety, not the place where the watermelon was brought from. In ripe “Astrakhans,” the difference between the dark and light stripes near the tail is strongly pronounced. And the ground spot on which the watermelon lay in the melon patch should be dark orange, or at worst yellow, but not white.
It is not recommended to buy watermelons by the road, at the entrance to the city.
Do not buy watermelons “cut open” or in slices — it is easier to throw away a watermelon that turns out to be unripe at home than to suffer from stomach trouble caused by what seems like a ripe “striped one,” but one inhabited like a microbiological laboratory.
Choose a medium-sized fruit (ideally 5–7 kilograms). If you plan to enjoy watermelons in a large group, it is better to take several small ones than one weighing about 20 kilograms.
Do not store watermelon in the refrigerator. Unchilled watermelons contain 20 percent more beta-carotene and lycopene.