You can tell a lot about a watermelon from the field spot on its skin. It marks the side on which the fruit rested on the ...

"There are some things I look for when I go to the supermarket or roadside stand," Egel said. "With me, I downplay 'thumping' the watermelon. In the field they don't stop to thump the watermelons, ...

In the field (and this can go for home gardeners, too), start with the tendril and leaves. “The first and preferably three tendrils nearest the watermelon fruit should be dead,” she says.