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No more sticky messes.
The thing I remember most about my days as a prep cook is making fruit salad. It seemed like I was endlessly hacking into pineapples and melons. My first jobs were in questionably run establishments, and no one ever bothered to show us prep cooks any clever pro knife techniques. It took years for someone to school me on the smart way to cut fresh fruit.
One trick I eventually picked up comes in very handy with whole (or even half) watermelons. Have you ever put off cutting into a watermelon because you dread the sticky mess that runs over your counter and under the cutting board? This’ll put an end to it and make melodious melon-cutting from now on.
How To Cut Watermelon Without the Mess
All you need to do is put your cutting board inside a large rimmed baking sheet. The baking sheet acts as a drip tray to contain the prolific watermelon juice.
The only rub to this hack is that the cutting board needs to fit inside the baking sheet, but most of us have one that will fit the bill.
Some cutting boards have what’s called a “juice groove” on one side. This moat-like groove is supposed to trap juice, but sometimes it’s too shallow and is basically only there for looks. With big jobs like watermelon I just assume no juice groove is up to the task because I certainly don’t want to wipe up tracks of sticky juice later on.
Related: The Easiest Way To Cut Watermelon, According to a Food Editor
How To Pull off This Trick
Hopefully this technique will inspire you to cut your own fresh watermelon more often!
- Wash the watermelon. It doesn’t take long and it helps reduce the risk of cross-contamination.
- Get a cutting board that’s slightly smaller than your largest rimmed baking sheet. It needs to fit inside the baking sheet flat.
- Proceed as you normally would, using your preferred watermelon cutting technique.
- As the juices flow, the baking sheet keeps them contained.
- If you like, once you’re done you can add the accumulated juices to an ice tea or other refreshing drink.
Try this cutting board method for any food that tends to bleed out liquid: tomatoes, a raw turkey, a cooked turkey, or any big hunk of roasted meat you’ll carve to serve hot.
Related: The Only Way To Store Cut Watermelon, According to an Expert
Read the original article on Simply Recipes
