With just a few simple steps, you can preserve your watermelon for up to six months without fear of spoilage.
Watermelon is truly a divine fruit, captivating everyone from adults to children, including the most fastidious and the most laid-back. With its beautiful red color, refreshing sweetness, and rich vitamins, who could possibly refuse it?
However, you cannot enjoy delicious, fresh watermelon all year round. Therefore, let’s learn the secret to storing watermelon for half a year without spoiling, so you can keep some for yourself!
1. First, make sure to choose a really good watermelon
The most crucial and important task for storing watermelon for up to six months is to select a good fruit that has no cracks, bruises, or rot. If you pick a poor-quality watermelon with cracks or bruises, no matter how hard you try, it will spoil quickly.
Do not choose a watermelon that is too small or too large.
How to choose a good watermelon:
- Check the ground spot of the watermelon: The bottom of the watermelon should be yellowish to deep yellow. If the part in contact with the ground is white, the watermelon is still immature and not ripe. It is likely that this watermelon was artificially ripened and may taste bland with a thick rind.
- Tap the watermelon to check its ripeness: This is a traditional method many people use when buying watermelon. There are many descriptions of how a ripe watermelon sounds when tapped. A ripe watermelon produces a clear sound, similar to a drum or knocking on a door. If it sounds dull, the watermelon may not be ripe.
- Brown spots: Brown spots on the watermelon rind are not signs of spoilage but rather a result of multiple pollinations during flowering. This indicates that the watermelon is sweeter.
- Consider the size of the watermelon: Avoid choosing a watermelon that is too small or too large; opt for one of medium size, around 1.5 to 3 kg.
- Look at the stem of the watermelon: When buying watermelon, choose those with dried brown stems, indicating sweetness and ripeness. If the stem is still too green and large, the watermelon is likely immature, not fully red, and bland. Newly harvested watermelons have green stems, but after a few days, as they lose water, the rind becomes thinner, and the stem wilts, making the fruit sweeter and tastier.
- Examine the stripes on the rind: A ripe and delicious watermelon usually has broad, well-defined stripes. Watermelons of lower quality tend to have smaller stripes.
- Look at the belly button of the watermelon: If the belly button is large, the rind is thick and has many seeds, indicating less sweetness. A small, indented belly button suggests a thinner rind, more water content, and greater sweetness.
- Differentiate the shape of the watermelon: The shape of the watermelon depends on the variety. Many people often use tips to distinguish between male and female watermelons based on shape: round and long. However, some varieties only produce elongated fruits, so this method may not apply. Generally, elongated watermelons tend to have more water and sweetness than round ones.
2. Create a “strong” protective layer for the watermelon
The preservation method we want to share here was first developed in India. It involves coating the watermelon with a layer of paraffin or wax to protect it from environmental influences and to maintain moisture within the fruit.
The protective layer is created as follows:
- Thoroughly wipe the watermelon with a dry cloth; you do not need to wash it beforehand!
- Melt paraffin oil (the main ingredient in candle wax) or candle wax! Be sure to use colorless, unscented candles and remove the wick.
- Let the melted solution cool for about 10 minutes, then pour it evenly over the surface of the watermelon. Make sure to cover the entire surface of the watermelon with a wax layer about 0.5 cm thick!
- Now wait for the wax to cool and harden.
This method of coating with paraffin or wax was first developed in India.
3. Store and preserve the watermelon
Once the wax coating hardens, place the watermelon in a box filled with straw or line the box with newspaper and keep it in a dry place, away from heaters, stoves, and direct sunlight!
Place the watermelon in a box lined with straw.
Occasionally, you can check the surface of the watermelon to ensure there are no signs of cracks in the wax coating.
When you want to eat, just remove the outer wax layer, wash it, and cut it as usual.
When you feel like enjoying some watermelon, simply remove the wax coating, wash the watermelon, and savor the sweet flavor!
