How to Cut a Watermelon

Finding watermelon at the grocery store tells me summer is here! It is a staple in our 'fridge and I have perfected a rather odd but simple way to cut our watermelon so I thought I would share!

First and foremost, WASH your melon. That's right. WASH YOUR WATERMELON with soap and water! There are more germs and bacteria on the rind of your fruit that you would want to know about. Running your clean knife through a "dirty" rind will only drag contaminates through the flesh. You don't want to end up on the evening news as a casualty of a freakish illness caused by some weird food borne bacteria do you? Trust me- wash your melons!

 You will need:

A towel

A serrated bread knife

A clean, whole watermelon

A large bowl

A small bowl

Something for waste (I use a grocery bag)

 Here is a neat trick I learned a long time ago from my mother-in-law: Place a smaller bowl, upside down, in your large bowl before putting your cut melon in. This puts a space at the bottom of the bowl for the juices to collect and keeps the fruit from getting soggy in that juice!

Cutting the Watermelon

STEP 1:

Cut the ends off of the fruit

 Doing so will give your watermelon a flat and stable surface while cutting.

Why not just cut a portion of the longer side instead than the short end?

Because my crazy method calls for standing the melon on the short ends!

 *I cut melons ON the towel. If you are worried about harming your counter you can put a cutting board under the towel. The reason I do it this is way because the towel soaks up all the juices which makes clean up a breeze! My counters (and myself) do not get soaked with juice and I don't have to mop afterwards! I have never damaged a towel- the knife really isn't pressing hard enough.

Step 2:

Starting at the top, saw with your bread knife towards the bottom of the fruit. After you have done this  a few times it becomes easier to cut along the curve of the watermelon

continue until all of the rind has been removed

Pretty neat, huh?!

At this point I shave off any remaining white flesh and I flip the melon over to trim the bottom up.

Step 3:

Cut the melon lengthwise, into halves

Step 4:

Cut the halves into thick slices

 Step 5:

Cut the slices into spears

(look familiar? Grocery stores charge the same price for less than half of a watermelon, prepared this way, as they do for a whole melon!)

Step 6:

Cut the spears into cubes

Step 7:

Toss 'em in the bowl (don't forget my tip about using the smaller bowl insert!)

 There you have it! How to cut watermelon for a herd!

As silly as it seems, it is very easy and works very well!

I hope you give it a try the next time you lug a whole watermelon home from the store!