By RIPE, checked against a produce manager's cues. Published .
Feel for a slightly waxy or tacky rind and press the blossom end for a slight give. Honeydew barely ripens after picking and will not get sweeter, so it is one of the hardest melons to buy well.
What to check
🤲
Feelripe honeydew loses its slick, smooth feel and turns faintly waxy or tacky. The blossom end should give slightly.
👁️
Lookcreamy yellow to ivory rind, not green-white.
⚖️
Weightheavy for its size, like all melons.
Common mistakebuying by color alone. The tacky-rind cue is the one the produce pros actually use.
Written by the team behind RIPE, a free app that reads a photo of the whole produce pile and rings the ripest ones. Every cue above is one you can check with your own hands, and it all works with no app at all.
Where this comes from
These cues match the public guidance from university extension services. Read them yourself:
Flip it over and look at the field spot: a creamy, buttery-yellow patch means it ripened in the field, while a white or pale green patch means it was picked too early. Full answer
How do you pick a ripe cantaloupe?
Look for raised, coarse netting over a tan-gold background and smell the stem end: a sweet, musky aroma means it is ready. Full answer
Which fruits ripen after picking, and which never will?
Fruits that keep ripening after harvest (climacteric): bananas, avocados, mangoes, papayas, peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots, pears, kiwis, tomatoes, persimmons, guavas, and apples. Full answer
Or just show us the one in your hand
Take a photo of a single piece, filling the frame, in decent light. Free, no signup, and it tells you what it cannot see.
You just read the cue for one piece. RIPE reads a photo of the entire display, draws numbered rings on the ones worth taking, and tells you why in the same plain words these guides use. Then it remembers what you brought home and nudges you before it turns.
It claims only what a camera can actually see. Every verdict ends by handing the last check back to your hands, which is the part these guides just taught you.
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