I agree with you, I buy my melons from the local farmer's market. People who think the seedless are as good must have a secret stash of them because I have yet to find a good one! Sort of like all the genetic engineering they did to pigs to produce a lower fat pork product...lower fat along with lower taste!

I think seedless watermelons taste like nothing. I have yet to get one that was sweet and tasted like a watermelon.
Last night at the store I found one regular watermelon, with seeds!! I asked the produce guy if it was for sure a seeded one and he said, yes and they are really rare.
I bought it and oh my goodness it is so good. It is sweet and juicy, tastes like a watermelon should.
The difference is amazing.
This is the first one with seeds I have been able to find in a long time.

I too think the seedless don't have as much flavor as the seeded. I usually have good luck with the melons I chose from Meijer.

Sue

I refuse to buy seedless watermelons for the same reason as everyone else. NO TASTE!! I have tried growing my own melons but our growing season is too short and they never ripen, or they split before they get ripe. Such a disappointment, watermelon meant summer!

Hey I'm right with all of you...

Walmart doesn't carry the "old fashioned" black seeded one anymore...Everytime I go in there I ask for regular watermelon. Telling them I don't like the seeded.

The so called seedless have just as many seeds but they are white and softer. That doesn't mean I want to eat them..! And you are all correct about the flavor. They just don't measure up to the good old sweet ones...

Do any of you remember when you would go to the farmers markets and they would cut out a triangle shaped plug for you to taste before buying. And how red they were.
If today people could taste those , they would all be picketing the markets to bring them back.

....and here I thought I was the only one that doesn't like them!

WOW- I must have hit the jackpot a couple of weeks ago! I bought two seedless watermelons- first ones we ever had and Eric and I both made pigs of ourselves, LOL. They were sweet and I even enjoyed them without adding salt (watermelon and grits are the only things I add salt to). Of course we have not had seeded watermelon in a while so maybe our taste buds were just happy to have ANY watermelon.

I don't care for seeds. I found a great variety a couple of yrs. ago named Sharlyn (I think). It's a little larger than a cantaloupe but with a pinkish hue. Delicious. It's very hard to find and I don't see it around every yr.

I prefer the old fashioned varieties too. We used to raise watermelons and my favorite are the Black Diamond and the Jubilee Stripe. We live in an area where many melons are rainsed and can usually get good fresh ones to enjoy.

I agree with those of you that don't like seedless melons!
Its hard to find a GOOD watermelon up here, seeds or otherwise! I'm going to have to try though because I'm taking a fresh fruit salad to the family get together on the 4th.

If the melon is pale pink then they were picked too soon. I've grown seedless melons and they're just as good as the ones with seeds, if I don't pick them before they're ripe.

I vow never to buy another store bought melon again because 95% of the time they are either under ripe or old.

~Kath, who is growing Cream of Saskatchewan and Moon & Stars this year.

Guess I'm in the minority here. I have had great seedless melons. Especially liked yellow ones from the Amish at the farmer's market. I really hate it when I get a melon that is full of seeds.

You hasve to thump the watermelon to find a ripe one. It will sound like a tom tom if it is ripe. I have been told they do not ripen after being picked so I aloways thump and find the ripest one - always buy seedless as I have young grands and they don't like the seeds. Some people say it needs a yellow area to be ripe - try thumping...

I really enjoy watermelon, but really do not enjoy fighting the seeds. I'm hesitant to buy watermelons because they're just not good. I think there's far fewer melons grown locally and that's the problem. I went to a buffet a couple weeks ago and had some watermelon there and one piece was rather tasty, not great but I was hungry for watermelon. The other two pieces were fair at best. I've never had luck with "seedless" melons either. If I see a stand where someone actually grew them instead of trucking them in from Arizona or someeplace, I might try one from them, but I walk by them in the stores, reluctantly.

"Seedless" are gaining more and more shelf space in the stores. I'm not totally sure why, except possibly being smaller they fit more in the same space.

But melons aren't the only thing. Anyone having trouble finding GOOD grapes these past couple years? I don't like to do it but I won't buy now unless I try them in the stores. And have passed them by quite often. I have noticed the past few years that the red grapes are usually better than the green ones. Can't blame the stores for the producers' failures.

Sad situation when canned fruits and vegetables are superior to "fresh".

I've had an occasional good seedless watermelon only because they were ripe!Still not as tatey as a real old fashion seeded melon but okay. I found the biggest problem with getting any watermelon at Wal-mart is they are either not ripe, have been partial frozen and thawed during transit or rotten. I Would much rather have a big seeded watermelon grown here in the states than one imported from Guatemala or wherever. I do tend to buy from local growers rather than a grocery store. Besides the fact, you can't have a proper watermelon seed spitting contest without seeds!

CT

Whole Foods had them on sale the other week. Almost bought one.

There's a watermelon salad that I would like to try.

Yes, you do have to know how to chose a melon, not just grab one off the top. I bought two cantaloupe recently and they were both very good. The appearance and the thumping.

Sue

I have no need for a large watermelon for us two. So now I buy seedless because of their compact size. In fact, my refrigerator won't store a large half or whole seeded so I rarely bought them when the kids were little. I learned to buy the deepest green melon with the yellowest light spot to find a juicy ripe one. Thumping has always escaped me, a real mystery.

I got a great big seedless (only thing I could find) and it was a striped one....They are trying to trick us...LOL

It was okay..and this younger generation...if they've never tasted the good old sweet ones would never know what they are missing...

AND the seedless ARE FULL of seeds...

patti

as a kid, the best melon i ever had was in texas at a watermelon stand...and at my grandma's home we bought one from the side of the road and the man "plugged" it (cut out section for us to taste before buying! you'd never find that anymore...

dh is a better "thumper" than i am. but with just 2 of us it's easier to buy alrready cut cheunks...

My father ALWAYS said: NEVER BUY YOUR WATERMELONS UNTIL JULY 4th.

I guess that I just got lucky:) When we were on our way home from Florida we stopped for gas and across the road was a roadside stand. They had lots of produce when ours at home is only inches tall. I bought a nice sized seedless watermelon. Just got time to cut it open this evening and was thinking of this post as I cut it open. I was afraid it wouldn't have any taste, and I lucked out and it is dark pink and tastes beautiful. I think that the difference may be that I bought it fresh from the field instead of in a store. I have had other good seedless watermelons but only from roadside stand and farmer's market.

Stacie