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!
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Enjoyed this very SWEET visit!!! You two are delightful to watch as you share your Joy and abundant living with us.
Thank you Janna. You are so very much a part of that SWEET, abundant living we share! I’m grateful 🙂
Papaw told me about the bee sting theory on the melon when I was little with him in his backyard. I had forgotten about it and when I was in college you reminded me that the bee sting was the tell-tale sign you have a good melon on your hands and it always works!
Boy, it sure does, Ash! Your Aunt Robin knows how to pick ’em!
This is great! I never knew how to pink a ripe watermelon. I just crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. Bee stings it is!
so cute — when it comes to melons — this is a great example of some really good ones — LOL — all said is good fun
We were always told wasps (since bees lose their stingers, and wasps are attracted to ripe fruit like watermelon.) Whether it’s a wasp biting at it or bee or ant or something, likely they smell the really sweet ones and the bump is to try and ‘heal’ it/protect the watermelon from the bugs. It works every time though.. but anyone noticed that now a days with the ‘greenhouse watermelons’ there’s no stings? Rarely sugar lines either.
This is just great! This tip has been a life saver and so true!!
Works every time!