夏天到了，又到了吃西瓜的季節(jié)，如何才能挑出最甜的西瓜呢？中國人會(huì)告訴你，敲一敲聽聽聲音就知道了，真的是這樣么？

Mental Floss網(wǎng)站截圖

2016年網(wǎng)上貼出的一張意大利超市的照片讓“敲西瓜”火了一把。這家超市當(dāng)時(shí)立了個(gè)牌，上面寫道：“尊敬的顧客，請(qǐng)您不要再敲西瓜了，它們是真的不會(huì)回應(yīng)的?。?！”

啥？西瓜都不讓敲了？中國網(wǎng)友紛紛表示不服，并表示：沒有被敲過的瓜不是完整的瓜！

還有小伙伴表示……

話說回來，敲西瓜真的靠譜嗎？敲瓜達(dá)人是如何“聽聲辨音”的呢？

Knocking on watermelon is included in an episode of the Russian cartoon, "Nu, pogodi!". [Photo/Youtube]

WikiHow suggests a ripe watermelon should give a "full sound" rather than a "dull and deep one" if one taps it with the knuckle.

WikiHow網(wǎng)站指出，當(dāng)你用指關(guān)節(jié)敲瓜時(shí)，成熟的西瓜應(yīng)該發(fā)出渾厚的聲音而不是悶聲悶氣的低沉的聲音。

如果你覺得聽聲辨音有難度，我們還有其他方法可以挑出最好吃的西瓜：

But how to select the best of the batch? Food blogger Emma Christensen recently offered some advice, and it involves a little weight-training. When you examine watermelons in the produce section of your local grocery, you want to look for the heaviest one for its size. The denser the fruit, the more juice it has. That's when it's at its most ripe.

如何才能挑出最好的西瓜？美食博主艾瑪·克里斯滕森近日給出了一些建議，當(dāng)然你還得有把子力氣才能擔(dān)當(dāng)此任。在當(dāng)?shù)厥称冯s貨店的農(nóng)產(chǎn)品區(qū)挑西瓜時(shí)，你應(yīng)該在同等大小的西瓜中挑最重的那一個(gè)。西瓜的密度越大，汁水就越多。這也意味著西瓜熟透了。

Next, check the underside of the watermelon for the "splotch." That's the yellow patch the watermelon develops by resting on the ground. If it's a creamy yellow, it's also a good indicator of being ripe.

接下來，看西瓜的底部有沒有“斑”。西瓜在生長過程中接觸地面的地方會(huì)形成黃色的斑塊。如果斑塊呈乳黃色，那就說明西瓜熟了。

Finally, give the underside a little smack—not aggressive enough to draw attention from grocery workers, but enough so that you can determine whether the watermelon sounds hollow. If it does, that's good. If it sounds dull, like you're hitting a solid brick of material, it's overripe; put the watermelon down and slowly back away from it.

最后，輕輕拍一下西瓜底部，不要太用力，以免引起雜貨店員工的注意，只要能聽到西瓜聲音是否空洞就夠了。如果發(fā)出空洞的聲音，那么就是好西瓜。如果聲音沉悶，就像碰到一塊實(shí)心磚頭一樣，那就說明熟過頭了，把西瓜放下，慢慢地離開它吧。

If you're not confident in your watermelon evaluation abilities, there's another option: You can ask the merchant to pick one out for you. Pay attention to what he's doing and then try to emulate it the next time you're forced to choose your own produce.

如果你對(duì)自己的挑瓜水平?jīng)]有信心，你還可以讓賣瓜的人幫你挑。不過你得注意他是怎么挑西瓜的，下次你不得不親自挑選西瓜的時(shí)候，可以模仿他的做法。

最后再偷偷告訴你幾個(gè)挑瓜妙招：

觀色：瓜皮表面光滑、花紋清晰、紋路明顯、底面發(fā)黃的，是熟瓜；表面有茸毛、光澤暗淡、花斑和紋路不清的，是不熟的瓜。

看瓜柄：綠色的是熟瓜；黑褐色、茸毛脫落、彎曲發(fā)脆、蜷須尖端變黃枯萎的，是不熟就摘的瓜；瓜柄已干枯，是“死藤瓜”，質(zhì)量差。

看頭尾：兩端勻稱，臍部和瓜蒂凹陷較深、四周飽滿的是好瓜；頭大尾小或者頭尖尾粗的，是質(zhì)量較差的瓜。

比彈性：瓜皮較薄，用手指壓易碎的，是熟瓜；用指甲劃要裂，瓜皮發(fā)軟的，是過熟的瓜。

炎炎夏日，挑對(duì)西瓜，做一個(gè)快樂的“吃瓜群眾”！

英文來源：Mental Floss

翻譯&編輯：丹妮