Summertime brings to mind tons of fun in the sun from balmy beach days, to boating along Florida’s scenic waterways and barbeques with plenty of juicy, sweet watermelon! We wait all year long to take those refreshing bites, but how do you make all that nutritious deliciousness last once you’ve had your fill?

Once watermelons are picked, if they are left whole and field fresh, most can last up to four weeks. However, if a watermelon enters cold storage, on either a refrigerator transport truck or in a grocery store cooler, that watermelon needs to remain refrigerated.

Once a watermelon is sliced, that window of wonderfulness shrinks quite a bit. Immediate consumption is always great, but you can keep watermelon slices in your refrigerator for about 24 hours; and unrefrigerated slices should last about two hours. Just make sure that your watermelon doesn’t wallow in its juices during storage, because that can make for some mushy melon! Plus, keep your watermelon away from fruits that are known to emit ethylene gas, which can cause watermelon to over-ripen even more quickly. These fruits include bananas, plums, apples and pears.

When choosing a watermelon, obviously you want to avoid any that show signs of decay, but that yellow spot – as long as it’s not mushy – merely shows where that watermelon ripened in the field and it’s perfectly fine. Ripe watermelons make a dull thud when you tap them with your fingers. So head to one of Perrine’s Produce’s convenient locations and let the thumping begin!