Pesticide Testing: The Watermelon King Compared to a Regular Watermelon; Square Watermelons — Using all their strength, participants could only lift the "Watermelon King" slightly. Yesterday, over 200 melon farmers from Hebei, Tianjin, and other places gathered in Daxing to join the national watermelon and muskmelon competition. Ultimately, Qingdao’s 36-kilogram "Double Star" watermelon won the title of heaviest single melon, known as the "Watermelon King." This is the first out-of-town "Watermelon King" in the history of Daxing's watermelon and muskmelon competition. Photographed by reporter Xue Yan.
Yesterday, over 200 skilled melon farmers from Hebei, Tianjin, Shanxi, and other places brought their carefully cultivated watermelons and muskmelons to Panggezhuang Town in Daxing for the national watermelon and muskmelon competition. A "Double Star" watermelon weighing 36 kilograms from an agricultural product company in Qingdao won the title of heaviest single melon. This is the first time local melon farmers have won a major award.
The 10 experts at the competition measured rind thickness with rulers and sugar content with testing instruments. Of course, the quality of the melon was most important—sweetness, texture, consistency, and absence of off-flavors were all evaluation criteria.
Photographed and reported by Xue Yan and Du Ding. Comments are welcome.
(Edited: SN009)