What is injected into watermelons for rapid ripening. Myths and truth about watermelons
Photos of the "pricked" watermelon appeared today in social network. The resident who posted the pictures regional center reported that a watermelon was bought at the Vatutin market.
“There are traces of two injections on the pulp and two small brown dots on the outside at the injection sites,” Svetlana wrote. Some users immediately supported the suggestion that the watermelon was probably injected with a syringe.
However, in the department of plant quarantine of the regional Rosselkhoznadzor, the version with the “injection” was strongly rejected: “This is a myth clean water. Stories like this have been around for a long time. Most often, they scare bananas with HIV-infected blood. But this is complete absurdity. Bananas are affected by a rot that looks like blood, but even if you eat it, it will do without consequences.
Discussing photos of the "injected" watermelon, Tyumen residents note that if it really was an injection, then the fruit would be unnaturally red and beautiful. “It looks more like an ordinary worm. If I had been pricked, I would have been, like, super ripe and beautiful, ”Olga from Tyumen believes. “Insects leave the same traces: bugs, worms, foulbrood, there should be larvae. Once it happened, they exchanged it in a stall without any problems, ”said user Sergey.
Recall, with the beginning of the watermelon season. So, if after the cut it turns out that the watermelon has sour smell, then in no case can you eat it - you can get food poisoning. The presence of nitrates can be reliably determined only by laboratory methods.
The color of the pulp of the "bad" watermelon is intensely bright red with a slight purple tint; the fibers going from the core to the crust are not white, as expected, but with all shades of yellow; in the “wrong” watermelon, the cut surface is smooth, glossy, while normally it should sparkle with grains.
The other day employees of the Rosselkhoznadzor. The phytosanitary certificate for 10 tons of "striped" cargo turned out to be invalid. The violator was fined, and the watermelons were returned to Kazakhstan.
The ability of gourds to gratefully accept nitrogen supplements and store nitrates in reserve is known. But for a person, such a berry can be dangerous. You need to know how to choose a watermelon without nitrates. These harmful substances are present in any vegetables in small quantities. Watermelons are champions in the accumulation of nitric acid salts.
Why are nitrates dangerous to humans?
In the human body, nitrates are converted to nitrites in the large intestine and absorbed into the blood. In this case, nitrites form the compound methemoglobin. Hemoglobin in the blood is needed to deliver oxygen to cells. Methemoglobin does not perform this function and in the body begins oxygen starvation. At 30% substitution, nitrate poisoning occurs; at 50%, death may occur.
Slight poisoning is expressed by depression, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea. The doctor diagnoses poisoning by an enlarged and dense liver. The danger is higher in children, as they have a small body weight, and there is no enzyme capable of converting methemoglobin to hemoglobin. Therefore, a baby cannot be given watermelon to a baby.
In the human gastrointestinal tract protein products split, amines and other nitrogenous compounds are present. Combining with salts of nitric acid, carcinogens, nitrosamines are obtained.
WHO has defined as acceptable daily dose consumption of nitrates 3.7 mg, nitrites 0.2 mg per kilogram of human weight. In terms of a weight of 70 kg, this will be 350 mg of sodium nitrate.
During heat treatment, in the presence of vitamin C, during storage, nitrates are destroyed. The danger of nitrates in watermelon is great precisely because it is eaten without pre-treatment and in large quantities.
How to determine nitrates in watermelon?
If earlier advice not to buy watermelon out of season was the most correct, then modernity is making adjustments. There are new ultra-early varieties and hybrids that ripen early, without accelerators. Such watermelons are small, only 1.5-2 kg, and we were taught not to choose small fruits. So, if the variety is ultra-early, then the watermelon cannot be large.
Therefore, the study sweet berry must be carried out in the aggregate on a number of grounds:
- appearance;
- the structure of the pulp in a home study;
- use of methods and control devices.
Watermelon research starts at the counter. You can not buy goods from the collapse of the roadside. For a day of standing in a gassed environment, the product will pick up a lot of exhaust gases, no less harmful than nitrates. On the ground, the crust will become dirty, the grains of sand will injure the shell, and it will not be possible to completely wash such a watermelon. Usually, roadside trade is illegal, the goods do not have a sanitary certificate of content harmful substances.
Buy agricultural products, including watermelons and melons safely in special places and with a quality certificate.
Watermelon should have a dry tail. It should be carefully examined, a sign that the watermelon was removed green will be a soaked tip or cut sharp knife. In addition, this will be a sign that the watermelon has been stale for a long time. And without a tail, you should not take the fruit. This means the seller has something to hide. The tail can dry naturally in the garden of an unripe watermelon, which is specially turned over several times, twisting the tail.
stripes of dark and light color should be contrasting, not blurry, the picture is clear. In a ripe watermelon, you can slightly scratch the skin, and then a dense white layer and a clearly audible watermelon smell will be found below. All this is a sign that the watermelon has recently sat in the garden.
On examination, you need to check well whether there is a puncture in the peel of the watermelon, through which they served what the watermelon is pumped for rapid redness. And not only watermelon, other melons and tomatoes also receive injections from unscrupulous sellers. Saltpeter injection accelerates redness.
You can not buy a watermelon with black dots on the surface, a small spot of rot, with a crack or dent. You can not ask to cut a triangle to inspect the middle. A cut fruit with an unwashed peel, a dirty knife can lead to bad consequences.
To find home signs nitrate watermelon research needs to be continued. First, lower the watermelon into a bowl of water. If the fruit is ripe, it will float. A drowned watermelon can not be checked, returned to the owner. After that, wash the watermelon with soap and a brush, drain.
The cut fruit should have a grainy surface, not a smooth, glossy cut. Seeds should be developed and black. On the cut there should not be thick yellow bundles, nitrogen supply overpasses. The veins are thin white normal structure fetus. The flesh should not be in the middle of an intense color, but gradually turn yellow towards the periphery. These are signs of the presence of a large amount of nitrogen. A watermelon with nitrates, the photo of which is posted below, shows its inside view. 
Finally, put a piece of watermelon 20 grams into a transparent glass and knead in water. If the water becomes cloudy, everything is fine. If stained, this indicates the presence of nitrates. Moreover, the more intense the color, the more impurities in the watermelon.
The instrumental research method is the most reliable. He suggests:
- laboratory analysis;
- research using indicator strips;
- using a special device, a nitrate meter, or an ecotester.
Keep a titration rack at home and potassium alum only a specialist can decide. But this is how they check laboratory conditions the amount of nitrates in agricultural products. There are test strips that are inexpensive, they are not determined very accurately, approximately. And you can buy an ecotester device that gives a result and a warning about the dangerous content of nitrates.
Upon detection dangerous dose, watermelon should not be eaten, it is better to part with it. In order for the risk to be minimal, you should wait until mid-August and only then feast on watermelon. But even at this time, vigilance should be observed. Producers try to get a big harvest and they always feed, only during a certain growing period.
How to choose a sweet watermelon?
When buying a watermelon, experts advise choosing "girls". WITH scientific point vision for berries is not applicable. It does not happen among the fruits of boys and girls. However folk omens show that watermelon with a flat or slightly indented top is sweeter and has fewer seeds. "Boys" are considered if there is small bump. Perhaps these are some features in pollination, but this selection rule works.
Another sign of a ripe berry may be a small orange spot, this place the fruit lay on the ground. If the filling went quickly, the earth was warm, the spot was small, the berries were tasty. If the spot is large, white, then the taste of watermelon will be different. This means that the berry lay on the ground for a long time, the ground was cold, so you should not expect sweetness from such a berry.
When cutting a watermelon, you need to leave 3 cm of pulp near the crust, fertilizers accumulate there. And give the children a piece from the very middle. No need to eat a lot of goodies in one sitting. It is better to stretch the pleasure, eat the fruit in small portions, while listening to the state of the body.
Bon appetit and good health!
How to choose a ripe watermelon without nitrates - video
August and September are watermelon season. It would seem that we already know everything about watermelons! And yet every year we manage to choose “the wrong one”. Let's once again recall the rules for buying this seasonal pumpkin (scientifically, watermelon belongs to this category).
Ripe watermelon has a dry or thin green tail. The fruit should not be crumpled or crooked. Therefore, it must be carefully felt and slightly squeezed with the palms. The peel should not be easily squeezed. Elasticity is the key to ripeness. It should seem that if you press a little more, the watermelon will burst. light brown or brown spots over the entire surface, with the exception of a large yellow spot from the earth - a sign of disease. If there are no extraneous marks and damages on the outside of the watermelon, its shape is not mangled, then it has grown healthy and can be safely taken.
Myth 1
The redder the tastier
Often sellers of watermelons rest on the fact that, they say, red watermelon is the coolest. How redder flesh, the juicier and sweeter it is.
The taste of watermelon does not depend on the color of the pulp, our expert explains. - But it's still worth paying attention to: if it is slimy or uncharacteristically dark, then most likely the watermelon was hit or squeezed hard during transportation. The core began to rot. And if large yellow or white streaks are visible, this is a reason to be wary. Surely, when growing berries, chemistry was used - it accumulates in the veins and gives an uncharacteristic color. Such a watermelon also has a “chemical” flavor, and the cut often looks not porous and loose, but unnaturally smooth, as if it had been polished.
Myth 2
They are pumped with saltpeter through a syringe.
The Internet is full of stories about watermelons pierced with saltpeter. Like, they chip the berry with all sorts of chemical growth accelerators so that it ripens faster. Therefore, before choosing a watermelon, you need to look for needle holes on it.
Melons, when they hear about it, laugh: any pierced watermelon (as, indeed, a fruit or vegetable) will rot in a couple of days. Yes, and manually chopping thousands of fruits on melons is an impossible task. People often mistake holes left by wireworm larvae for injection holes. But these holes do not affect the quality of the fetus.
Chemical top dressing for watermelons is still used by unscrupulous melon growers, but can be distinguished by appearance a fruit grown on nitrates is very difficult.
And yet there are things that should alert. If the fetus is huge, more than 12 kg, then it probably "ate" unhealthy food. To finally make sure that the watermelon is natural, it is better to use a nitrate tester. Good salespeople who have nothing to hide always have one on hand. Please note that the tester electrode should not be inserted into the peel, but into the pulp - in the area between the seeds and the center.
However, nitrate meters also have errors: it all depends on the cost of the device. 100% result according to the contents of the watermelon, only a laboratory analysis will give.
Myth 3
Can't eat until august
Now, of course, is the season. But watermelons appear every summer at the end of June. And people turn up their noses: they say, probably nitrate. Main argument- watermelon ripens for a long time, at least 100 days, and by June - July in the Russian climate, of course, cannot grow.
It takes 90 days to grow an ordinary ground watermelon, but now many varieties have been bred that ripen in 70, 60 and even 52 days. Their peculiarity is that the tying of the fetus begins earlier than in ordinary ones. Therefore, in the south, watermelons are planted already in late April - early May. In addition, experienced melon growers have their own recipes for growing early watermelons: lower the seeds into the soil under a film to heat the ground, stretch agrofiber over the seedlings (something like a greenhouse. - Ed.) or plant seedlings. Accordingly, the end of June - normal time for the appearance of the first watermelons. Usually these are the varieties Victoria, Skorik, Ogonyok, Crimson. They are often small in size.
Myth 4
Boys are less sweet
People often twist a watermelon, trying to determine its “sex” by the structure of the tail or the size of the trace from the flower, believing that girl watermelons are sweeter than boy watermelons. And they believe that if the tail is green, then the watermelon is immature.
When watermelons bloom, they have female and male flowers (the latter are twice as many). But the fruit is tied only on the female. Males serve for pollination. So all watermelon berries are female! A green tail-stalk means that the watermelon is fresh. After a week of lying, the tail usually dries up. It is worth paying attention to the thickness of the stalk: if the watermelon is ripe, it is thin, and if it is full and very thick, then most likely it is green berry. It is recommended to eat watermelon within 4-5 days after harvest: then the structure of the pulp changes.
Myth 5
No bones? GMO sign
It is believed that a watermelon should look typical - be green, oval, with black stripes, red flesh and black seeds. And if it deviates from the norm, for example, it has an unusual shape, there are no seeds in it, then for sure it is grown using genetic modification.
Seedless watermelons are not GMOs, but just the fruit of the work of breeders. In such watermelons, 1 - 2 black seeds come across, and the rest are white and soft. But if you take such a seed and plant it, then an ordinary watermelon with seeds will grow: in order to be seedless, complex pollination is necessary.
The Western market is 60% occupied by seedless watermelon, but this variety has just begun to take its place on our shelves.
By the way, there are watermelons round, triangular, square. For getting unusual shape them in young age placed in special glass flasks. At the same time, out of 50 flasks in which the fruits are laid, 1 - 2 watermelons are obtained. desired shape, the rest disappear. Therefore, the price of a square or triangular watermelon starts from 3,000 rubles, and the cost of those brought from Japan reaches several tens of thousands. And with a high degree of probability, such a watermelon will turn out to be tasteless. They are bought mainly for fun - as an exclusive souvenir.
IMPORTANT!
Watermelon pulp contains carotene, ascorbic acid, B vitamins, magnesium, potassium, nickel, iron and other components. Fiber and pectin have a great effect on the functioning of the intestines, helping to cleanse the body of harmful substances and toxins. In addition, watermelon is useful for kidney diseases and edema, as well as for cystitis, nephritis and the presence of sand in the kidneys.
The official watermelon season usually starts on August 1st. But in the Ukrainian markets they are already being traded with might and main. How to recognize a “split” berry and why you should never buy cut watermelons. Such sales, experts say, should be banned.
Literally every day one hears that one of the acquaintances, who dared to taste a sweet treat, thundered into the hospital with poisoning. It is not surprising, because it is not yet the season for watermelons, and in domestic fields they will begin to ripen only in August. Now they are sold either imported or grown in our country, but with the help of not only nitrates, but also many other fertilizers. Recognizing such a "pricked" delicacy is quite simple. Grown naturally watermelon should have a dry tail, and when tapped, it should ring dully. When cut, it should not have large veins and fleshy fibers swollen. If it is, then it was grown with the use of pesticides.
For children - the core, beloved mother-in-law - crust
It is also worth noting that pesticides are most near the crust, and there are fewer in the middle of the watermelon. Therefore, it is desirable for children to give this very core.
The choice of watermelons must be approached very carefully. Do not buy cut watermelons. In principle, such a sale should be prohibited altogether, since in this case big berry microbes get in: sugar and glucose are excellent culture medium for their reproduction. And if you cover the cut watermelon with a film and put it in the sun, then the microbes will multiply exponentially. As a result, you can "catch" food, microbiological, bacterial poisoning.
“Often, consumers think that they ate watermelon and got poisoned by nitrates, but in reality these are “intrigues” coli, - said Vladislav Slastin, head of the food hygiene department of the Ukrainian Research Institute of Nutrition. - Watermelons sold in the so-called authorized markets and stores must have, like any food product, a sanitary and epidemiological certificate that controls the content of pesticides and other fertilizers. Goods that are sold by hand are not checked, so there may be inconsistencies in the amount of fertilizer and content chemical substances».
In addition, in any civilized market there is a so-called "nitrate post", where any resident of the city can absolutely free of charge check the product purchased or grown in their own garden.
watermelon in champagne
A viscous “watermelon honey” is prepared from watermelon juice - nardek, containing 60-80% sugar. To prepare nardek (petmez), ripe, sweet watermelons must be selected, washed well, cut and peeled. Cut the pulp into pieces, mash well to get enough juice. Strain the resulting juice, then pour it into a large shallow vessel, preferably with a non-oxidizing surface, and cook over high heat, stirring constantly. Boil until the juice becomes thick like liquid honey.
Small pieces of other fruits can be put in watermelon honey for additional flavoring. Pour the finished nardek into jars, close them tightly and store in a cool, dry place. It can be used for filling compotes, for making cookies, cakes, etc.
Watermelon jelly and marshmallow, watermelon jelly and compote are very tasty, and alcoholic drinks, infused in watermelon (champagne is best), will be remembered for a long time by those who try them. No one will be indifferent to jam from watermelon rinds.
Small-sized watermelons are salted, not only ripe, but also half-ripe, along with capsicum, tomatoes, carrots and other vegetables. in 10 liters boiled water dilute 800 g of table (non-iodized) salt and pour undamaged and well-washed watermelons with this solution. A month later, they are ready for use. Watermelons themselves become tasty, and improve the taste of the rest of the salting.
Roasted watermelon seeds South China is a popular delicacy. Watermelon seeds have hemostatic and antihelminthic properties. They are used for dropsy and jaundice.
Watermelon is also used in dried form. Dried pulp contains a lot of sugar. Watermelons are boiled, jam, candied fruits, compotes are made from them, including with other fruits and berries.
Watermelon is very helpful. In terms of iron content, it ranks third, after lettuce and spinach. It contains a large number of folic acid. Fruit pulp and juice well quench thirst when feverish conditions and have a strong diuretic, mild laxative, choleretic and anti-inflammatory effect.
It is recommended in clinical nutrition when ill of cardio-vascular system, anemia, with diseases of the kidneys and liver, gallstones and urinary tract. Watermelons are very useful for patients with sclerosis, arthritis and gout.
Except watermelon juice, fresh and dried watermelon peels in the form of decoctions in a ratio of 1:10 have a diuretic effect. Fresh (green) and dried watermelon rind is successfully used to treat colitis in children.
How to test watermelon at home
Dip a piece into a glass of water, if the water changes color - the watermelon is “pumped up”, if the water just becomes cloudy, then the watermelon is “clean”
Pay attention to the veins: if they are dense, thick, yellowish, then the watermelon was “fed”
Do not forget that watermelon is a separate dish that is recommended to be consumed 2 hours before or after a meal. In no case do not replace dessert with watermelon - this is an extra load on the stomach, Novaya writes.
There is an opinion that early watermelons stuffed with growth stimulants and nitrates, which is common cause poisoning. Russia is one of the leaders in the cultivation of watermelons - giant berries. Despite this, about 60 thousand tons of watermelons are brought to us from other countries every year. And, as a rule, these are early varieties that have been pleasing us since July. But buyers have more complaints about early watermelons.
Where do watermelons come from in such early period? If you ask this question at the market with watermelon traders, they will definitely tell you that these are Krasnodar, because they know that people buy Chinese watermelons without much enthusiasm. Many buyers are not at all interested in where the watermelons were grown, and in the meantime, it is after the delicacy of watermelons that people get food poisoning.
In no case should you buy watermelons near the track, because early watermelons have a thin rind that quickly absorbs salts heavy metals and mercury. And this berry also accumulates nitrogen, which in the human body turns into a poison - nitrous acid.
In pursuit of profit, unscrupulous producers are trying to artificially speed up the process of ripening watermelons ... Vadim Popovich, Doctor of Biological Sciences, an expert in agricultural supervision, said that in order to speed up “ripening”, people thought of injecting urea into a watermelon with a syringe, sometimes even the urine of the seller himself. The watermelon turns red, but what about the quality?…
You can judge for yourself what the taste of watermelon can be after such an execution.
Early watermelons come to us from Thailand, Ecuador, Brazil. Specialists are highly suspicious of products from China, and there have already been defective batches containing cadmium compounds that affect the liver and kidneys. Agricultural supervision specialists assure that there are both early and late varieties of watermelons.
In most cases, the appearance of early varieties on the market speaks of the success of world breeding. Ultra-ripe varieties of watermelons have long been bred, which are planted at the end of winter or early spring in order to please us with its refreshing taste in the summer.
Whether early watermelons are dangerous for human health does not depend on the type of watermelon, but on the conditions under which they were grown. No one can guarantee that watermelons grown in September will chemical composition could be better than July watermelons.
To answer this question and be sure that the berry does not contain nitrates, it is better to use a nitrate meter, allowable dose nitrates - 60 mg. per 1 kg. There is one more folk method watermelon quality checks: cut off a piece of red pulp and dip in a glass of water. If after 2 hours the water is colored, it means that it is stuffed with chemistry.
What are nitrates? These are salts of nitric acid, which are contained in mineral fertilizers. Nitrogen is essential for plants to grow and build cells. Once in the body, nitrates irritate the mucous membrane of the stomach and intestines, causing disorders and diarrhea.
IN gastrointestinal tract, under the influence of microflora, nitrates are converted into nitrites. Nitrites oxidize the iron in hemoglobin, and convert it to metahemoglobin, a substance that is not able to carry oxygen, hence oxygen starvation of tissues occurs.
In Japan, on the island of Shikoku, square watermelons are grown. In supermarkets of large cities, such watermelons are sold for $ 120, which is 4 times more expensive than ordinary watermelons. What is the "feature"? Watch a short video.
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