Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links, including Amazon Affiliate links. An affiliate link means I may earn an advertising fee if you make a purchase through my link without any extra cost to you. This helps to keep this little blog alive, so thank you! For additional information, please view my privacy policy.
Life is picking up here in our household! We just got back from our first camping trip of the year, and are already prepping to head out on another trip this coming weekend. Summer is officially on. And with the onset of summer, comes a parade of watermelons in this house!
Cue the next Husband Hack. If you missed last week’s culinary hack, you’ve GOT to check it out here.
We love watermelon (show me someone who doesn’t!) and can consume its deliciousness all day every day. Thinking about it though, I don’t think I have ever cut a watermelon in my life.
They’re big. They roll. They’re hard.
I feel so privileged that the husband takes care of all our watermelon cutting needs. And he’s finally settled on a method he is proud to share.
But first, let’s talk about how to select the best watermelon.
How to Select A Watermelon
Lift a watermelon and note its weight. If it seems heavier than you thought it would be based on your quick judgement of its size, then it’s likely a great pick with loads of juice.
Next, knock on the watermelon. A great watermelon will produce a nice vibration and clear acoustic knock. This means that the melon is nice and firm. If the melon was soft and mushy, it would produce a dull sound as the softness of the shell dampens the knock.
You can check that the shell is nice and uniform in colour. But we have found that this is not really a big factor in whether the watermelon will be juicy and tasty or not. It’s more for aesthetics.
How to Cut A Watermelon
The key to any good and safe cut is a very sharp knife. The husband is using the Wusthof Classic Ikon 9″ carving knife, which in my personal opinion is the wrong knife because it’s meant for carving meat. But, my husband would ask me why it’s wrong, and since that is my only reason, he just ignores my need for using things how they were originally intended. For him, he likes using this knife because it’s long and sharp. And that is all the reason he needs.
Halve the watermelon and place it flesh side down on a cutting board. It will save your sanity a bit to use a board with multiple juice grooves. Here’s a set similar to ours.
Using a sharp knife, slice the watermelon into 2″ thick slices.
Then, make slices in the watermelon the opposite direction. Opposite is the wrong word…just watch the video below for reference!
Now, each piece is easy to grab and eat. Cutting a watermelon this way also gives you perfectly edible pieces in the “corners” of the melon.
I asked the husband to nicely display the watermelon on a plate for the ‘Gram and blog, but he refused. He said this is how he truly cuts it and eats it, so…#RealLife. No fluff here.
So that’s it. That’s all there is to it. Give this cut method a try and let me know what you think!
Also let me know how YOU cut a watermelon in the comments below!
