Encore – The Bees Know

Ever since this post was first published we have had people ask again and again “Does that bee sting thing REALLY work for picking watermelons?”…The answer is
always the same….a very emphatic YES!!!!!  You can’t see the color or taste the sweetness of a watermelon until you cut into it but it has never yet failed for us….if there is a bee sting, the melon is ALWAYS sweet!  It takes a little extra time to examine a crate of watermelons in the market to find one with a bee sting but it is more than worth the time it takes if you come across one…it is a true prize.  Try it for yourself….you won’t be sorry 🙂

THE BEES KNOW

Nothing is better in summer than sweet, ripe, delicious fruit. Earlier this week we wrote about peaches. Today we are talking about melons….specifically how to pick a good melon and then how to cut it.
It just so happens that my grandfather grew up on a watermelon farm in Yoakum, Texas. He always picked the best watermelons….he had a lot of experience and he passed at least some of what he knew on to me. The secret? He told me always to look for a “bee sting” on the rind of the watermelon. A bee sting is a drop of what looks like dark brown sap or hardened candy on the rind.
According to him, bees can smell a good sweet melon and they will sting the melon making a small whole where a bit of the juice or nectar from the melon is released. It hardens as it dries and becomes the bead of dark brown candy on the rind. Is that really what happens or just a fun story a grandfather told his young granddaughter? I don’t know for sure, in fact I’ve had more than a few people working in the produce department of the grocery store tell me that story is crazy. What I do know for sure is that I have NEVER picked a watermelon with a “bee sting” that wasn’t sweet and delicious. So you decide who or what is crazy:) Just for fun I Goggled ‘bee sting on a watermelon’ and what came up is sort of interesting. Click here to read what I found.

(Trevor Bryson -Videographer)

So go out and get yourself some of the sweet goodness of summer. If that happens to be a watermelon, look for the bee sting…and if someone thinks you’re crazy, who cares? You’ll be the one with sweet ripe melon every time and the one enjoying a little bit more love, joy and abundant living!